The Masks of Academia | Dr Suryaraju Mattimalla

In the realm of ancient scrolls,
Where kings wore crowns of gilded gold,
Eulogists danced in shadows bold,
To please the tyrants, tales were told.

From Brahmins’ chants to scholars’ quills,
The echoes of power, the thirst for thrills,
In modern garb with Western degrees,
They sing for rulers, their voices freeze.

Oh, comic Indian academia,
With your masks of progress, a grand hysteria,
You don the robes of Marx and post-modern thought,
Yet serve the state, the same battles fought.

AFSPA’s chains bind the voices unheard,
While elegant theories are whispered, absurd,
In the halls of prestige, they celebrate,
Yet silence the cries of the marginalized fate.

What’s the difference, I ask, in this masquerade?
Theoretical groups, in shadows, they wade,
The same sycophants, the same band of jesters,
Dancing for power, the modern investors.

With degrees from Oxford, Cambridge, in hand,
They flatter the state, a well-rehearsed band,
Yet the tribals and untouchables, in silence they bleed,
While scholars indulge in their elegant greed.

A deaf and dumb circus, a comic charade,
Where knowledge is currency, and truth is delayed,
Competing for titles, for ranks in the game,
While the cries of the oppressed fade into shame.

Reject the elegance, the chameleon’s skin,
For justice is louder than the whispers of sin,
Long live the voices that rise from the dust,
For Nagalim’s future, in justice we trust.

Let the band cultures die, let the silence be broken,
For the hearts of the voiceless must finally be spoken,
In the tapestry woven, let truth be the thread,
For justice, for Nagas, let the chorus be spread.

In the echoes of Rawls, may we find our way,
To a world where the muted no longer decay,
Long live the struggle, long live the fight,
For justice and freedom, let’s ignite the night.”

~ Dr Suryaraju Mattimalla