Sinister Appeasement?

by Prof. Siva Prasad Peddi

Should we really wish each other?
“A very happy New Year - 2013”
For the New Year gift
Of the Indian Government

Center announces a price tag
Is it really a justified act?
Compensation is understandable
For calamities and acts of nature

Why this announcement
A help so insignificant
And a tag…compensation
What is it trying to prove?

If the one lost were alive
There would be meaning
We could have thought
It is taking responsibility
By adopting the suffering
Governance has done its duty

Is it not irritating to read?
And to how many will it?
The list is fast growing
And an unending one too
Reasons pretty well known
It is simply the failure
In the country of “Law and Order”

Public money for
Government’s failure
Instead of initiating
Severe punishment
On all those culprits
Without further hearing
And any further delay
It is really sad news.

If it is so!!!

How was the figure arrived at?
Did it verify the law books?
Or has it just been sympathetic?
What was the yard stick?
And through which amendment
Is this new update, a price for it?
Or is this crime categorized now
As an accident or an act of nature

Compensation!!!

A "Great word"
Of a great language
Misused, verbally
And In practice too…
Crops lost due to floods
Houses destroyed in riots
Acts of nature causing
Injuries or loss of life
There is some meaning
Government has to come
To the rescue of the lot

For an assault so brutal
And an irreparable loss for ever
Is there really a word so temporary?
Such as “compensation”

Who knows the future?
Bereaved was worth a “Noble Prize”…
Even now she’s eligible
For the highest award
For the tolerance and courage

Will any mother and father
Brother and sister
Be really interested
About this verdict of the center?
None would appreciate it
Or really interested in a pie
Which comes the way it has?
What answer does the family have?
If the bereaved appears and asks
“Are you happy with my painful earning to you?”

A new precedent in this country....
Culprits wouldn’t be tried
No punishments announced
The center takes such measures
So as to pacify the grief
Of the Society and family of the bereaved

Culprits who and whose money
Distributing this money…it is who?
Government on behalf of culprits
From every rupee paid by the citizens

Is it indirectly making a bargain?
With the Society and the family
Not to further raise their voice
Is any official involved in this?

Is the Government a guardian?
An advocate to these culprits
Bribing to ease the severity
And to reduce the intensity
Of a punishment on this crime

01-Jan-2013

More By : Prof. Siva Prasad Peddi

Views: 1396 Comments: 3

Comments on this Poem

Thank you for suggesting such an apt title RK Ji...

sivamadhaviyam
01-Jan-2013 11:32 AM

Thoughts were many about the title..didn't crystallize...
More than a poem it was a sort of struggle from within...
when I heard the news first thing in the morning...
Suggest one if it occurs to you...

sivamadhaviyam
01-Jan-2013 08:26 AM

With such a bold interrogative poem, the title is not justified. Perhaps you should think of a more dynamic title.

Raj
01-Jan-2013 07:57 AM