Suspected Poems

For no particular reason
He had the blue cow tattooed on his right shoulder
He would have been killed in the riots yesterday
But they were good people—
Seeing a cow, they let him go!

Written in Gulzar’s inimitable style, the poems in his newest volume of poetry reflect and comment, sometimes elliptically through a visual image, sometimes with breathtaking immediacy and directness, on the political reality in the country today. Powerful, poignant and impossible to ignore or gloss over, the fifty-two threads that make up Suspected Poems unfold across the entire political spectrum—from the disturbed climate in the country and the culture of intolerance to the plight of the aam aadmi, from the continued oppression of Dalits and minority communities to fluctuating Indo–Pak relations.

Written with Gulzar’s characteristic incisiveness and his unique perspective and translated marvelously into English by Pavan K. Varma, Suspected Poems, made available in a special keepsake bilingual edition, will delight every reader of poetry and Gulzar’s many fans.

Fara niciun motiv anume Avea tatuata vaca albastra pe umarul drept Ar fi fost ucis ieri in revolte, dar erau oameni buni - Vazand o vaca, l-au lasat sa plece! si comenteaza, uneori eliptic printr-o imagine vizuala, alteori cu o imediate si directa uluitoare, asupra realitatii politice din tara actuala.