THE LIGHT ELEMENTS

Always India

Saffron, white and green,

What does it, to you, mean?

You must be proud,

Shout out aloud,

Ye Indians arise,

Let’s reach for the skies

All you gals
and guys! 

There will always be an India,

While there are village lanes,

Wherever there are grazing deer

Or noisy,
jam-packed trains!

There will always be an India,

While there’s a crowded street;

Wherever there’s a saint and seer

Or dirt and dust
and heat!

We shall, ere long, have an India,

Where all can read and write;

Let’s vow to lead them, now and here,

From darkness
into light!

Let’s look forward to an India,

Where drunkenness is past;

Gulp down your fruit-juice, not your beer

To break your
morning fast!

Very soon, we’ll have an India,

Where the people are well fed;

Bidding goodbye to yesteryear:

With none hungry
to bed!

There will, one day, be an India,

Where disease is abolished, and,

right from the womb to the bier,

its nationals
well nourished!

One day, we shall have an India,

Which is aglow with health,

Where no one has any idea

Of an untimely
death!

There will always be an India,

Her people well clad and shod;

In all their doings, most sincere

Protect them all,
dear God!

There will always be an India,

Where oppression is dead;

Where the people laugh, from ear to ear,

With a roof above their head!

Before long, we’ll have an India,

Where unemployment’s gone;

With factories working in top gear,

And fields
bursting with corn!

We’ll, very soon have an India,

Where discipline pervades;

There’s something in the atmosphere,

So that
lawlessness fades!

There will, one day, be an India,

Where lawbreaking’s outlawed;

No doubt, it does sound very queer,

So, help us all,
oh Lord!

There will always be an India,

Democratic to the core;

Of tolerance the pioneer

 And for all, an open door!

At all times, we’ll have an India,

Secular in each pore,

Outshouting the communal jeer

With an almighty
roar!

There will always be an India,

And India shall succeed;

With people, hailing from front and rear,

Of every caste
and creed!

There will always be an India,

United we’ll remain;

All communities will cohere

To seek their
common gain!

There will always be an India,

And harmony subsist;

No one can, at all, engineer

A conflict in its
midst!

There will always be an India,

Where amity shall reign;

Whether you are a mountaineer

Or living in the
plain!

There will always be, in India,

A pluralist structure,

From Kanyakumari to Kashmir

A well-blended culture!

There will always be, in India,

Different ethnic groups composed,

Ever ready to Volunteer

To Share Each other’s woes!

There will always be an India,

Cosmopolitan in mould;

But, all throughout, you’ll overhear:

“We’re one in the national goal!”

There will always be an India,

Non-violent we shall stay;

A quality we will revere

Along life’s crowded way!

May there, one day, be an India,

With poverty banished,

Where life has ceased, to be severe,

And destitution vanished!

There will always be an India,

And India shall progress,

If we resolve, this very year,

To ban all strife and stress!

There will always be an India,

And India shall flourish;

With peace and plenty, far and near,

As much as you can wish!

We shall shortly have an India,

Sweet-smelling as a rose;

That scene will, very often, appear,

Where milk and honey flows!

There will, one day, be an India,

Where hard work is the norm;

We’ll show the whole world that we are

A people that can perform!

There will always be an India,

Where good faith counts a lot;

In work, you can’t be insincere

But give it all you’ve got!

There shall, ere long, be an India,

With waste down to zero;

Where he, who leads the life austere,

Is the nation’s real hero!

There will one day, be an India,

Where dues are paid on time;

No sum remaining in arrear

Right to the smallest dime!

Ere long, we shall have an India,

Where corruption’s absent,

Where payments made are not 2-tier

And everything upfront!

There will always be an India,

Where charters we have signed

That, to principles, we shall adhere

To benefit
mankind!

There will always be an India,

Where truth shall hold its sway,

A land where you’ll constantly hear:

“Satyam eve
jayate”!

There will always be an India,

With honesty at heart,

And nothing causing it to veer

From the straight
and narrow path!

There will always be an India,

Its integrity unstained;

Our honour we shall ne’er besmear,

But keep it well
sustained!

There will always be an India,

Its people, so simple and kind;

No sophisticated veneer

 And with no axe to grind!

There will always be an India,

Hospitably inclined;

E’en the poorest keen to feed ya

Though they
themselves haven’t dined!

There will always be, in India,

People generous to a fault,

Who , like Santa Claus’s reindeer,

Give gifts at
every halt!

There will always be an India,

With goodwill everywhere;

No mud, another’s face to smear

Just genuine,
heartfelt care!

There will always be an India,

Where joyousness you’ll find;

Where misery is just a mere

Invention of the
mind!

There will always be an India,

Where merriment abounds;

Where the people couldn’t be happier

And smiles
outnumber frowns!

There will always be an India,

Where human rights rank high,

Where none may treat them with a sneer:

All must, with
them, comply!

Reproduced from BCAJ, 2001