Through 100 pages of 'Poetry as Evidence', Outlook presents a selection of poems and verses that have moved us, and we feel these serve as evidence of our bleak times and lives. The poems below are the 20th from the series.
Wo kabhi Rahul hai, kabhi Raj
Kabhi Charlie toh kabhi Max
Surinder bhi wo, Harry bhi wo
Devdas bhi our Veer bhi
Ram, Mohan, Kabir bhi
Wo Amar hai, Samar hai
Rizwan, Raees, Jehangir bhi
Shayad isliye kuch logon ke halak mein fasta hai
Ki ek Shahrukh mein pura Hindustan basta hai
Akhil Katyal, Delhi
Akhil Katyal’s fourth book of poems 'A Biography of After' is forthcoming from HarperCollins India (2024). He is the author of 'Like Blood on the Bitten Tongue: Delhi Poems' (Westland), the translator of Ravish Kumar’s 'A City Happens in Love' (Speaking Tiger), and the co-editor of 'The World that Belongs to Us: An Anthology of Queer Poetry from South Asia' (HarperCollins India). Katyal teaches Creative Writing at Ambedkar University, Delhi.