Written by
Mangesh Padgaonkar |
Salaam,
To everyone, salaam
To the hand that holds
And brandishes the rod, salaam,
With my left hand on my rear
For fear of the boot,
A right-handed salaam,
To the one who watches me closely, salaam,
To the one who doesn’t watch and doesn’t care, salaam,
To the one who’d like to buy me out, salaam,
To his unseen boss, who orders him to buy me out, salaam,
Salaam, dear friends, to everyone, salaam.
It is a long poem, and it ends:
To every one of you, a reverential salaam.
If I had several arms and hands,
Like our sacred pantheon,
With every one of them I would have salaamed.
Forgive me, mortal as I am,
That I have only two:
The left I reserve for my rear,
And with the right I offer you
A simple, one-handed salaam.
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