Eight poems by Gulzar bring Republic Day into conversation with the realities and memories beyond its ceremonies. The selection ranges from a child selling flags at a traffic signal to communal violence, parliamentary gridlock, and the struggle against colonial rule. The poems are presented in translation in Scroll.in’s January 26, 2017 feature, drawn from Gulzar: Suspected Poems, translated by Pavan K. Varma and excerpted with permission from Viking.
Eight Gulzar poems for Republic Day
These titles and descriptions follow the excerpts published by Scroll.in on January 26, 2017. The scenes below describe what those excerpts show, rather than claiming to summarize each poem in full.
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“26th January”
A child with a polio-affected leg sells small flags at a traffic signal while his mother tries to stop him. The closing image imagines the scene as if it might belong to the nation’s festive pageant, setting street poverty beside public celebration.
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“Use the Diversion”
A man encounters communal violence at a corner where roadwork has forced traffic onto a diversion. The road remains under construction; the blood has not dried. Infrastructure and violence occupy the same unfinished landscape.
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“Traffic Jam”
The speaker describes being stuck for “seventy years” in a traffic jam near Parliament Street. People jostle over seats and chairs, but nobody moves forward. The number belongs to the poem’s text; it is not an independently verified political statistic.
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“Procession”
Rioters dance among burning buses and slogans with the exuberance of a team returning from a World Cup victory. The celebratory energy makes the destruction more disturbing, not less.
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“Newspaper”
An account of an abandoned child kept alive by a dog appears beside a Sikh applicant’s identifying mark: a burn scar from 1984. The juxtaposition connects an intimate human story with the enduring trace of historical violence.
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“There’s Nothing New in New Delhi”
Governments change, the speaker says, while old problems are repackaged as new schemes and old laws brought out again. Its political judgments are satirical, not neutral reporting.
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“Sultana Daku’s Last Letter to His Son”
A dying bandit describes a path from robbery to grabbing, murder, and the noose, then contrasts that fate with political privilege. Scroll.in’s note says “With thanks to Sujit Saraf”; it does not establish further publication history.
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“26th January: A Scene”
On a foggy January 26 in Lahore, a British flag flies above a courthouse as three people plan to lower it; the poem also turns toward Republic Day in Delhi. Scroll.in notes that the poem is “with reference to Bela Lal’s novel.” Its movement between Lahore and Delhi ties the date to anti-colonial memory across a divided geography.
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What these poems bring to Republic Day
Together, the excerpts resist a reading of the holiday as ceremony alone. A flag can be a child’s wares; a road diversion can frame communal violence; Parliament can become an image of people unable to move forward. Other poems recall the mark of 1984, mock the recycling of political promises, or return to the anti-colonial struggle. This is an interpretation of the excerpts’ shared effect, not a claim that Gulzar described the set in those terms.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Where to find the poems and read further
Scroll.in credits the translated excerpts to Gulzar: Suspected Poems, translated by Pavan K. Varma and excerpted with permission from Viking. The available source information does not establish the current availability or edition-specific contents of that book.
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For another route into Gulzar’s poetry, Penguin Random House India lists Neglected Poems, an adjacent collection published by India Viking in January 2012, containing sixty poems (publisher metadata) and ISBN 9788184756388. It is not confirmed as the source of these eight poems; the publisher page displays an Amazon ebook option.
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