Portulano Caprino

More than 10,000 people, falsely declared dead in northern India by greedy relatives and corrupt officials in order to steal their land, are trying desperately to prove that they are really alive. Fifty of the "dead" staged a protest last week by shaving their heads in front of the state assembly building in Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh state. "The state refuses to accept that they are alive," said Lal Bihari Mritak, secretary of a pressure group, the Association of the Dead. "If it did, it would mean altering the district revenue records and restoring to them their properties, which is something that dishonest officials oppose." Lal Bihari added Mritak (meaning "dead" in the local language) to his name in 1980 after he was a victim of the long-practised land swindle in the densely populated and backward state, where many people subsist on small holdings. He fought for eight years to be declared alive again, and a Bombay producer now pla...

"Eu escrevo sem esperança de que o que eu escrevo altere qualquer coisa. Não altera em nada... Porque no fundo a gente não está querendo alterar as coisas. A gente está querendo desabrochar de um modo ou de outro..."

... Ávida violência Reverso de inocência Sal da inconsciência Que há no mar Império tão pequenino De portulano caprino Bolsas de sina e de sino Em cada mão Pátria imaginária De consistência vária Afirmação diária Do teu não As malas dos portugueses São como os olhos das rezes Que se mastigam três vezes Em cada chão Cândida ignorância Grande desimportância Os frutos da errância Já lá vão ...