

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