Madras Congress
Tell me not in scornful numbers
Congress is an 'empty' show1
For though many a delegate slumbers
Seats are 'full' in every row.
Congress is earnest ! Congress is real!
Self-Government is its goal;
Action said, a high ideal
Is always good for the humen soul!
In the congress field of battle,
In constitutional strife
Indulge internal rattle,
Never lift a chair for life.
Lives of Moderates all remind us
We should wisely keep from crime,
Open sedition only finds us,
Shelter in a far-off clime2!
Let us then lie up and speaking,
Speaking at a furious rate :
Not always some benefit seeking
Learn to be loyal and to wait".
1. The first two lines resemble -
H.H. Long Fellow's poem "A psalm of life".
(Tell me not in mornful numbers, Life is an empty dream)
2. Perhaps a reference to the prison in Anandaman Islands.
(This poem was first printed in Vyasa Chendrika (A collection of Gurajada's Essays), edited by Avasarala Surya Rao and published by Visalandhra Publishing House in 1953. In a foot note Surya Rao stated that this parody was part of an essay written by Gurajada on Madras Congress Session held in December 1908 and published in the Hindu. Unfortunately Surya Rao published only the poem but not the whole essay. Till date the essay remained untraceable. Eds.)