Gandhi,
An attentive oil painting
Ideal for the drawing room.
Nehru, Subhash, Patel,
Each a word covered with soot,
With which at best
Streets can be named.
The Freedom struggle,
A cheap Hindi film song
A hit for some days.
Independent citizens,
Troops of a well-orchestrated opera
In which the musicians call the shots.
They can kick out dancers
Who fail to dance to their tune.
The dancers do not know
How long they have been doing their job.