Tumi kon dawle (Which team do you belong to) -Shankha Ghosh

When one comes hurrying to grip the handle of a bus,“Which team are you?” you ask.

Right before you allow a spoonful food inside a hungry mouth, you ask “What is your affiliation?”

Hit by the bullet of Police, he lies on the rocks,
But before helping him up you make sure where his allegiance lies

With blood on both hands you still look out for which of his hands is colored!

Holding a torch through the tunnels you probe the faces,his, her and their, who has the tattoo and who doesn’t

What goals and what ideas?They come later. First, tell me “On which side are you?”

Who died in Bhilai and who ran to the village of Chhattisgarh, whose head deserves a lesser price

On which roads should the blades dance and clash, on which roads should they march slower

Before you render your verdict, you underline the question again “On which side are you?”

After cutting loose a stale corpse from the suicide noose, you whisper into its ears, “Which team?”

The question that precedes your sleep, and your act of love
“Which team! on which team are you!”