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I
Ravens of many looks and appearances,
Hovering over my house;
I was a small child then;
One crow attacked with its sharp beaks,
When I went to my roof,
To probe the reasons thereof.
Perturbed, I rushed back downstairs.
My grandmother met me first.
I narrated the attack from a crow,
And the hovering of the army of crows all around.
“Some of their fraternity must have been lost.
Angered at this they must be hovering",
My grandmother in her eighties lay bare the secret.
I could not believe her words,
Till I saw a crow lying dead on a railing,
Electrocuted by electric wires,
Hung on electric poles.
As a child I was awestruck.
How the death of someone from one’s fraternity,
Makes so many small creatures without intelligence,
Gather and violently remonstrate with no self-serving ends?
II
Now I am a grown-up man,
Living in the society of men of intelligence,
Men of culture whom the nation is proud of,
Because they have won many laurels for the nation.
But I have never seen them bothered
About visitation of death in the vicinity.
We enjoy life king-size without any break,
In the rhythm of our life,
Amid the wailings heard in the vicinity, caused
By death of a young flower plucked by cruel destiny before bloom,
We organize parties in our lawns,
With mournings heard in the houses beside.
We watch serials and films on OTTs.
Sipping tea and coffee in our cosy rooms,
I don’t find anything wrong in this.
My intelligence has guided me,
That only fools will expect species with intelligence,
Behaving the same way as the species without intelligence.
Furthermore, the Accountancy rules have it.
“No ‘transaction’ has taken place,
If there are no financial implications”
Hence no entry is required to be made,
For such events having no bearing on kitty of the entity.
III
Today when I am grey-haired, I lament
Why Accounting rule is followed in today’s life
The books of account of our heart
Don’t require recording of entries
Of entities other than ourselves,
Entries which don’t affect our self-interests;
Entries relating to the mishappenings of others;
Entries of such events that would leave our mood "disturbed"
When we are savouring fleshly creations of the Maker,
But when any mishappening comes in our life,
And when someone very close to our heart hurriedly bids goodbye
From the world's stage, leaving us shell-shocked;
To match this occasion, we want the whole humanity
To drown the globe with its tears.
We then forget that we have forgone
All legitimate claims to seek
Any recompense from the community.
(This is a sad commentary on modern man’s estrangement from the community.) |
