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The Mosquitos of Mahakali Caves


๐˜ˆย ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ท๐˜ช๐˜ฆ๐˜ธย ๐˜ฐ๐˜งย ๐˜–๐˜ฑ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จย ๐˜•๐˜ช๐˜จ๐˜ฉ๐˜ต, ๐˜ˆ๐˜ฑ๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ญย 17, 2024, ๐˜ฐ๐˜งย ๐˜”๐˜ถ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฃ๐˜ข๐˜ชย ๐˜Š๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ฎ๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ฆย ๐˜•๐˜ฐ๐˜ธ! : ๐˜ˆย ๐˜ค๐˜ถ๐˜ญ๐˜ต๐˜ถ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ-๐˜ง๐˜ฐ๐˜ค๐˜ถ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅย ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅย ๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฎ๐˜ถ๐˜ฏ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜บ-๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅย ๐˜Š๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ฎ๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ฆย ๐˜š๐˜ถ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฎ๐˜ช๐˜ต.ย @g5afoundation


As I sat in the Black Box

listening to the poet Javed Akhtar

talk about his former homeless life

with mosquitos at Mahakali Caves

as a younger man in the

Bombay of Before Times,

I looked across the room at

my mother and father.

Mother, glowing at seventy-four

with Father, at her side,

holding her small shoes,

as he has for over fifty years

while trying to Save the World.

Life and Times are a package,โ€˜

goodโ€™ things come with โ€˜badโ€™,

said the poet, and I know this is true,

because I am a contradiction,

a play of Dark and Light -

just like everyone else.

Stuck in the moment

between parents, poet and sons,

(were they home yet?), when a question

from a bespectacled girl absolved me:

What is the role of The Artist

in effecting social change?

To expose your heart, of course,

said the poet, in a heartbeat.

Something ripped you open,

but the words didnโ€™t fall out?

So Neruda gave you a Battle Cry,

a military formation and a hand grenade,

and equipped now, you went to the Others

on the front line, the picket line, onlineโ€ฆ

to make peace, to make love.


[Applause!] โ€ฆSilenceโ€ฆ


Ribbons of screens,

Cascading iridescence,

Illuminate my 37.2 trillion cells,

the space between them, contracting.

I can't save myself all alone!

Naseerโ€™s voice descends from the sky

as we sat there in the dark,

clutching our shoes, holding our breath,

caressing the bricks and mortar

of the mill that was not turned mall

by a woman who could have but did not,

and an actor who neednโ€™t have but did -together.




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