Skip to main content

Wounded Knee

I had forgotten how enraged I was when I first learnt about Wounded Knee. I am writing to remember. Wounded Knee, 1890 - the last of the Indian Wars. Old Big Foot's pneumonia ravaged body ridden with bullets. Sitting Bull already murdered. The Ghost Dance movement more or less in shambles. Mass grave of 350 Lakota Sioux at the foot of the Wounded Knee hill. The fall of a crumbling nation.

How maddeningly infuriating it is to have the faces on Mt Rushmore, faces that represent the institution that massacred the Lacota Sioux, towering over their very own land. I cant wait for the completion of the Crazy Horse monument. A fitting, long overdue reply. Perhaps only symbolic. But it is something.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Old Wrongs

How do you you right old wrongs? There havent been many, fortunately. But the few gnaw, bit by bit, inch by inch, at your peace of mind. They linger and fester. Mock at you. They shant be silenced till you have the courage to go back and right the wrong. Even if the other person(s) has moved on and can scarce remember what you are talking about. I am feeling reckless today. One of my biggest and oldest wrongs was when I refused to walk to the medical shop to fetch my sister pain killers when she was in agony. This was when I was in 6th grade. They say children can be cruel. But I was no child. It cannot be explained away. I still am frightened about my capacity then to be cruel. I have never apologized to my sister. But I have, ever since, tried to never let my sister down. But an apology is long overdue. I am sorry.

Dad

This seems to be a season of talking about family :-) ****************** I and my dad constantly bicker. Over everything. Over the laptop, over the last peanut in the packet, over the ‘mess’ in my room, over his lack of ‘cool’ clothes, over his 35 km/h driving, over the best place on the couch. Everything. Dad clogs up the laptop with guzillion web browsers talking about the latest political scandal rocking the old country in three languages (English, Hindi, Telugu). Dad belongs to the generation that considers work as the essence of life. Well, ethics too. And also, honour. And integrity. And..well, nevermind, let me get on. Dad can be as quiet as a cat when he wishes to sneak up to you and catch your greedy hand in the ice-cream tub. He reserves all his clumsiness, breaking unbreakable plates, banging into furniture for the wee hours of the morning. Even his morning Yoga exercises cause weird noises that awaken the stray cats in our building. Dad gives 200% to anythi...