Cheche: Reminiscences of a Radical Magazine

11. Poetic Sparklets

11 Poetic Sparklets “Man can find meaning in life, short and perilous as it is, only through devoting himself to society.” - Albert Einstein Editorial Note: The three poems below directly relate to this book. The Day the Rags Didn’t Show Up, by Ramadhan N Meghji, was written in 1968 after the demise of the Rag Day (Chapter 7). Submitted by Zakia Hamdani Meghji, it is published here for the first time. The Apolitical Intellectuals, by the Guatemalan poet Otto Rene Castillo, has appeared in Monthly Review (June 1970), Cheche (September 1970, No. 3), and Castillo (1984). He crafted simple, piercing verses against injustice and oppression. In March 1967, at the tender age of 31, he was burnt to death by the US-backed and funded Guatemalan army after being brutally tortured and mutilated. This poem was often recited in the conversations of radical students, and cited in essays and articles. A State of Withering, by Karim F Hirji, was written after Ramadhan N Meghji passed away in December 2003. A memoriam for the comrades no longer with us, most of those named in it appear in this book. It previously appeared in Daily News, 20 January 2004, and Awaaz Magazine, 6(1): July 2009. This is a slightly revised version. 124 Chapter 11 The Day the Rags Didn’t Show Up Ramadhan Ntalyaga Meghji On the hill, the University College, Dar, The Rags Day had come There was excitement, A jolly festival was about to commence, All active students awaiting And impacting with slowness of time. The Rags Day, a tradition born in Europe Among sons and daughters of the privileged One day in a year, to put on rags, Or rather to wear patches of rags, On elegant and dear Van Hussen} shirts And exquisite woolen skirts or shirts One day in a year, in jollity and hilarity We the privileged kids Let us initiate, let us dress down Let us copy for a few hours The posture, the carriage, bearing The personality of the poor These few hours of mock and play acting Is done for a noble cause ‘Cos around town we shall pass The richer folks approached And reminded of the underprivileged Hats in hand, a collection be made And finally the ragged-trousered philanthropists Of one day, hand-over donations to the poor. poetiC sparKlets 125 Later on, in the evening, back on campus With sundowners, the booze in bars Will flow, to celebrate A good day’s job done A noble cause, for the poor Life then goes on as usual Awaiting the next year’s Rags Day. Thus a flurry of activities that day On the hill, no classes, no lectures The Rags Day activists busy Organizing and arranging Stitching patches, here and there And the fleet of University vehicles Ready for the parade of the year The neutral students onwards with Their own affairs, either book-worms Or those consolidating their positions With the opposite sex students, Dates and Romances Others still asleep, nursing hangovers Yet still others, free time for more boozing Starting early till late. That day a few valiant students Preparing and readying to stop To put to a stop, once and forever The mockery of the poor The few hours of enjoyment and Patronization, of the poor To put to a stop, these blind Importation of foreign rituals. That day on the car parking square Where the procession was to start The sons and daughters, nieces and nephews Of the underprivileged, as well as The enlightened and progressive middle class Gather to confront, to sabotage To shock educate others On why rags, be not the solution. 126 Chapter 11 Bus, tractor and car tires deflated Barriers boldly erected Drivers and turn-boys sensitized Point well taken, point understood And Rags Day procession failed to start That’s the day in Dar The Rags didn’t show up. The car-park baptized: The Revolutionary square A few militant radicals Heads held high, winning the day And a turning point, a start To the University Hill, becoming A center of Revolutionary, Nationalist Pan-Africanist and Marxist ideas But some battles won The war a long one, and who knows Maybe one day, the Rags will come on again. poetiC sparKlets 127 The Apolitical Intellectuals Otto Rene Castillo One day the apolitical intellectuals of my country...