The Honour Tarnished with Blood

26th November 2008
Tonight I see the honour tarnished with blood
There are many innocents, who have been tarnished,
But I see only the honour tarnished with blood
Tonight, in this gathering, we stare that tarnished honour,
Tonight darkness is so potent that we seem helpless
Just burning candles and hoping it will end this darkness
And in this hope we just stare the tarnished honour.

My conscience questions me every time,
For what am I doing apart from just staring the tarnished honour in silence?
Why isn’t my blood boiling to compel me to do something?
Why don’t I feel the strength in my arms to establish that honour again?

O Mother India! I stare you dishonoured,
It is not only your wound,
It is also my wound whose pain I can feel
It is a wound which every Indian feels.
But I, a coward, do nothing and just stare you in the dim light of these candles.
I do nothing but cry for you in the dim light of these candles.

I think about the potent Indian soil,
That Indian soil where Lord Krishna established Dharma (Justice)
That soil where the Rani (queen) of Jhansi shed her blood for independence,
That soil which gave rise to valiant men like Shaheed Bhagat Singh
and Subhash Chandra Bose,
That soil where Mahatma Gandhi led us to independence.
Am I, the son of such potent Indian soil, a coward?
No, No, No! And I shall prove this.

Today I take a vow,
That I will restore the splendour of the honour, which has been tarnished,
And so radiant will be that honour
that no one, dead or alive, will attempt to tarnish that honour.
In the name of that Indian soil which is tonight soaked with blood
I, the son of Mother India, vow to establish Nav-Bharat (New India)
Tonight the honour that I see tarnished,
I will restore the splendour of that honour for eternity,
I will restore the splendour of that honour for eternity.