Gully Mantra

Jai Jai Jai

— gully ka deva Jai Jai Jai — mann ka seva Hum

nahi jhuke, hum nahi bhule

They came with their ships,

they came with their maps They drew all the lines and they

named all the traps They said we were poor — they meant

we were free They

couldn't put chains on a mind like me

Colonized the

coast but not the cortex Left with their gold but not the

complex

I wake every morning with the azaan in my ear And the

Hanuman Chalisa still ringing clear From the basti to the boardroom,

same blood

You think this is hunger?

nah — this is the hunt Apne hi desh mein paraye the

hum

Par apne mann mein hamesha swatantra Gully mantra — gully mantra Andar

se ameer, bahar se santa Gully mantra — gully mantra We don't

bow to the empire — we chant the mantra No gold on

the wrist but gold in the gene Richest minds alive in the

places unseen The slum is the

temple — you know what I mean My grandfather crossed the black

water with nothing A chappati and a dream and a God-name for

something

They called him coolie at the docks of the west He carried

the Gita folded in his chest I

carry it too — not paper,

it's pressure Every racist door I knocked became my teacher You mispronounce

my name at the immigration desk I mispronounce your history — call

it conquest They took the spices,

they took the silk thread Now

I come back as the artist,

the coder, the voice Kuch nahi tha pass mein,

par himmat thi bhari

Om asato ma

sadgamaya Lead me from the unreal to the real Lead me from

the darkness into light Tamaso ma jyotirgamaya

Gully mantra — gully mantra Andar se ameer,

bahar se santa Gully mantra — gully mantra We don't bow to

the empire — we chant the mantra No gold on the wrist

but gold in the gene The slum is the temple — you

know what I mean I am the sum of every stolen spice

Every salt march taken,

every sacrifice I don't need your validation or your visa queue From

Chhatrapati Shivaji to the gully today Racism called it slum — we

called it home Every language they suppressed still lives in my throat

Gully mantra — gully mantra Andar se ameer — andar se ameer

The slum is the temple The mind is the

throne Jai Jai

Jai — We were never alone