Ved Bhasin — A Tribute

You inaugurated your first flush

Of youth by shoring up innocent

Blood in the bylanes of your

Beloved city. And then never

Once looked back from doing what

Had to be done to keep kashmiris

Of all definition together against

The hate-mongering, bigoted

Sectarian. You wrote and spoke

Fearlessly on behalf of the human,

Never letting the petty-minded

Ruffle your masterly composure.

Not least of your contributions

Is the daughter you gave us—

Schooled in the steel of your

Conviction that it is in our difference

We must find the beaujty

Of the composite mind. Dear

Ved bhasin, doyen of democrats,

We salute your life and, in these

Trying times, again vow to keep

Aflame the wick of which bapu

Once spoke, regardless of how

Thick the obscurantist smoke.

Badri Raina

[Ved Bhasin passed away at night on November 5, 2015]