India, the ancient land of wonder and mystique
Tens of thousand years of rich cultural intrigue.
The smell of cardamom still in the air hangs,
The very smell that launched a thousand ships,
From distant lands to her beautiful shores,
To be ruled & plundered for two hundred years.
This ancient land where, they say, were sold
On the streets diamond, silk, ivory and gold!
The birthplace of speech, script, prose and poetry,
Of science the world has exploited with rapacity!
Chess and snake ‘n’ ladders and polo on elephants
First international university teaching 60 subjects!
Algebra, trigonometry, calculus, the digit zero,
Place value & decimal system and all numbers too!
A 3000-year-old school of medicine, that’s Ayurveda
In practice was surgery-immunity-genetics-anesthesia!
Where theories of relativity not applied to bombs
But to unveil the orphic ken of self and universe!
India, the richest land of the entire ancient world
Reduced to poverty by exploring greedy traders
Who stripped a peaceful country of her riches
Filled their coffers with stolen gems and monies
Riding on a claim that they believe themselves
That they were saving a people from ignorance!
Done with dominance, rebuilding, hey world!
Now we are ready again to open world eyes
To teach the right paths in the ways of life
Come learn from Great India the friendly ways
Of treating Mother-Earth well and also self.
India be again the richest land in the world!
