Wednesday, December 22, 2004

Unspoken benediction of calamities

26th January 2001. Republic day of India.
A holiday. A friday. A long weekend.
A devastating quake struck Gujarat, my home state in India.I was going home to Ahmedabad from Pune.
I reached Ahmedabad 20 mins after the quake.
This poem depicts my views on the quake and
the events in its aftermath. My attempt is to
see something good in this devastation.
The good is quite subtle.

**********************
A holiday.
A bright sunny morrow.
In the kitchen preparing my tea.
A spoonful of sugar as I took,
oh dear! the whole kitchen shook.

As I sat on the porch to read a book,
I fell on my back as the whole porch shook.

We scurried out in the open for our lives;
it was the speed of man versus that of quake.
We soon realized it was a mighty one
as it left thousands dead, in its wake.

Buildings pulverized to dust in seconds,
people crushed under the rubble.
The initial shock gave way to wail
for father, son, aunt and uncle.

When nature and man come face to face,
ironically, his home becomes the most dangerous place.

To save those alive from under the debris,
the youth pulled up their socks.
They began clearing the rubble,
ignoring the threat of aftershocks.

Commoners became heroes fighting against all odds.
To the rescued, the rescuers became the Gods.

Yesterday's perfunctory hug was an emotional necessity today.
A casual touch gave goose bumps today.
Unity in diversity was a redundant thought today
for mankind had just one caste, one religion today.
Life, in its rarity, was invaluable today.
Being alive was a reason to celebrate today.
'Mine' and 'yours' met obsolescence today;
'ours' was the rule of the day today.
Business for once gave way to humanity today.
In the sepulchral silence, an infant's cry had nuances today.
Man humbly realized 'Who is the Boss' - today.

In the ubiquity of calamitous death,
life survives.
In the worst fury of nature,
the spirit of humanity thrives.

As the wailing subsided
and the quake became a hazy memory,
the spirit of business took over
that of humanity.

The aids were picketted by ad hoc owners,
who sold them at a premium to fancied buyers.
Rehabilitation was a titanic task,
as land now belonged to land sharks.

Bemused, I chuckled at the irony
called man.

To show man what matters most,
to make him value the things right,
to bring him closer to humanity,
to keep his heart loving and pure,
shouldn't apocalypses perform
a more frequent encore?

5 comments:

Kamlesh Acharya said...

That made my skin tingle reading it!

For each of us, I imagine that we could relate many monumental tragedies that
we've heard of or been involved with, to your poem.
How do you manage to put down in words things that make the reader say to them
self 'absolutely ... I totally agree and feel that ...'!!!

And what a thought to ponder ... there's always some good you can find in
adversity ... there's always a reason that things happen ... whether we
understand it at the time, in the future in restrospect or ever...
but somehow though we are able to find perspective, maybe some more realistic
perspective ...

I've always thought that illness or something critical in one's life gives more
personal perspective ... to find out what is really important to you.
I watched a movie last week when i was off sick from work with the flu ... it
was about a girl who was told she had 2 months to live ... she wrote down a
list of all the things that she wanted to do/experience ... and she recorded
messages for her children, family etc ... and she decided that she would always
speak her mind ... its was a thought provoking movie ... as is your poem.

The way you've written this, taking it from someone living their day to day
life to the tragedy striking makes it so easy to try and imagine yourself in
such a situation ... to relate to.

Karen

Kamlesh Acharya said...

Kamlesh,

Very nice. Appreciate your spirit to find some positives from such a disastrous incident.

This was a bit lengthy and heavy (dictionary friendly ). But I could understand most of the parts and some of the lines really touched me.

"Man humbly realized - 'Who is the Boss' today..." I don't know but somehow I am always influenced by all
those things which shows the almighty as the biggest and the only force. Again everything comes to 11th Adhyay of Bhagwad Gita.

I hope the media and politicians too read this ( as they are currently stuck to Feb 2002 ) to find some positives
out of the incident that happened just 1 year before, and stop spoiling the image of Gujarat.

Good Work. Keep it up.

Best Regards,
Sunil

Kamlesh Acharya said...

Hi Kammo,

Very much touchy, Excellent work.
Keep it up!!

Cheers,
Deep

Anonymous said...

A very objective look at things,I must say.
But to be honest,I do not agree to the concluding part of the poem.

Unknown said...

Brilliant:)not only is death the great leveller but even a prospective death seems to be a great leveller:)