Vivekanand Jha, Ranchi . Where man has begun distancing from his fellow men,
where washing of hands every single second is ingrained into our habit!
when the world beyond the boundary walls appears as fantasis,
away from this confined boundary of our homes,
into that heaven of freedom, my father let my country awake!
Where the mind is full of fear, with the face covered by mask,
where the fear of death has overshadowed the pleasure of living!
Away from this deluge of tension and anxiety,
Into that heaven of freedom, my father let my country awake!
Where Corona virus is the new demon to destroy civilisation,
When from China to USA, chaos and uncertainty define the new world order!
Yet the head of Indian state, undeterred and unafraid, prescribed banging of thalis and lighting of wicks as the panacea for cure!
away from this magical world of the world’s magician,
Into that heaven of freedom, my father let my country awake!
When the unthought of lockdown brought untold hardship,
where the citizens fled their cities and towns in quest for a safe Haven!
where the well off watched from the balcony, with a sense of schadenfreude, thousands walking in hunger and starvation!
away from this world of blatant insensitivity and cynicism,
into the heaven of freedom my father let my country awake!
Notwithstanding the nation caught in inescapable trap,
the Corona virus returning with a greater vengeance!
Modi’s Ashwamedh yajna shall continue unhindered,
Even when the nation is torn asunder!
away from this political quagmire,
into that heaven of freedom, my father let my country awake!
With Corona degenerating into apocalypse,
the bustling metropolitan boulevards turning into graveyards,
graveyards transforming into bustling thoroughfares!
With humanity increasingly hiding in their homes,
frightened of contracting pandemic!
away from this spectre of morbidity,
into the heaven of freedom, my father let my country awake!
When the economy is in tailspin, with unemployment all time high, Chinese snarling at our throat, nation in deep distress!
But the Prime Minister ever in election mode, where governance assumes the back seat, yet election cannot!
away from this circus jamboree,
into that heaven of freedom my father let my country awake!
When the lion of Gir fiercely locked in a battle of one upmanship with the royal Bengal tigress,
hotting up the debate of Bengali versus Bahari!
‘Didi O Didi’, Modi addresses Mamata,
’emperor sans cloth’, shots back Mahua!
away from this ongoing whataboutery,
into the heaven of freedom, my father let my country awake!
When the pitiable cry of the nation rendered the world bewildered,
especially with Modi patting his back, sounded a reminder!
‘all is well’, with India driving away Corona,
with an egg at his face, Modi admitted that his comment was a jumla!
stunned nation recoiled to its shell,
with everything in abeyance, Corona became the only dread!
away from this repeated jumla,
into the heaven of freedom, my father let my country awake!
With the lengthening shadow of Corona spelling doom,
the hospitals without oxygen are driving away the patient fools!
With the graveyards falling short of space,
56 inch chest yelling ‘I am the best’!
with the agonised nation crying in deep distress,
leaving politicians bereft of any stress!
away from this pitiful spectacle,
Into the heaven of freedom, my father let my country awake!
Will there ever be a new resplendent dawn?
the bliss that adorned their faces will ever replace the ghoulish frown!
But the world sustains on faith and confidence,
where anything can happen and nothing is redundant!
during such time of utter helplessness,
the continuous faith in divine is the surer way to fearlessness!
He alone can take us towards the sunlit path of ‘mind without fear’,
into that heaven of freedom where we have none to fear!
But for that to happen, man must let go his hubris of being a conqueror!
surrendering before the Mother Nature his ego of being a suppressor!
much like the obedient son of the famous story of Casabianca,
man must burn his ego capitulating at nature’s supremacy,
Mother Nature, taking the humanity back to her bosom in the sign and symbol of an eternal reunion!
into that heaven of freedom where mother and son re-unite in a bond of eternal reunion, my father let my country awake!
Vivekanand Jha, author, academician and a poet.
