POEM_: To A Communalist


To A Communalist

I am
a Muslim
by family;
by linguistic affiliation
a Hindustani,
though, also, English.

Ethically,
I am, or
wish to be
a Jain;
morally, I can only be
a Buddhist.

Ontologically,
can I be any,
but a Monist? 
Epistemologically,
I guess, I really am
an evidentialist…

…And God alone knows
if he has made me
an atheist
or a pantheist!

By Nation, by geography
and by race
I certainly am
a Hindu,
rooted and living
as I am
between and including
the valleys of Indus
of Ganga, and of
the Brahmaputra.

By ambition,
I think I am
a SanatanaDharmi.

And in other
non-communal
categories, I respond to
other labels.

Only you
can tell me
which shelf,
you want
to exhibit
me in?

You see
in matters of
identity, as much
as in literature
and lunch
I prefer
a buffet.

Apologies,
but shelving
and labeling
of people
are your problems.

Not mine.

-

owais

--

This is first being published here.

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