To, Kashmir - with love

To, Kashmir...

Uncertain we held hands in the mist,Hoping for a negotiated communion

You sent me baskets of apples
And sacks full of walnuts
I sent you goodwill and gunmen
To ward off looters and demons.

Now, our union has come to this…
You pelt a thousand stones
I spray a million pellets
Our imagined communion lies in a pool of blood.

The hand you held once have become fetters?
Today you sit on heaps of apples bitter
And I have sent for you with swagger
A thousand grenades of Chilli pepper. -

                                                          From, India - with love