COVID-19
Friends, We are all overwhelmed by the threat posed by COVID-19. We are all trying to make sense of it all, wondering what is in store for us, with over half a million already in its thrall struggling for survival. Millions in our country have lost their livelihoods and have fled from their work places chased by the spectre of the virus and confronted by hunger and starvation on the roads. And thousands of doctors, nurses and supportive staff and many others are heroically risking their own lives to save other lives. So many of us are, however, secure in our homes confined, anxious though safe and facing no real hardship, each engrossed in their own way to make sense of this unprecedented calamity.
I being one of those fortunate ones, so far, have tried to understand it in my own way and here is the result: a poem; rather two versions of one poem, in English and Hindi.
Here they are.
The Avenger ?
A report says:
Pollution is down to zero
in cities that
are locked down
where humans in fright
of extinction
have retreated to
hide in their holes
Earth, water and
air are clean now
For how long? No
one knows
Yet birds and
animals are returning
to reclaim the
spaces usurped by humans
Is this Nature’s
revenge?
An existential alarm
bell: Beware
The eco-imbalance
created by them
can wipe them out
too, despite their hubris
A grim reminder: there
are no borders
The planet
belongs to all, equally
---
ख़बर
आई हैः प्रदूशन शून्य पर पहुंच गया है
उन शहरों में जहां तालाबन्दी
है
जहाँ
महांप्रलय से
भयभीत मानवजात
अपनी-अपनी बिलों में
जा छुपी है
धरती
जलाशय और वायु स्वछ हैं अब
कब तक? कौन
जाने
पर पशु-पक्षी लौट
रहे हैं उन स्थानों पर
जो मानव-जात ने हथिया रखे हैं
क्या यह प्रकृति
का प्रतिशोध है ?
एक भयावह चेतावनी:
सावधान!
अहंकारी मानव
का रचाया पर्यावरण-असंतुलन
उस के लिये
भी विनाशकारी सिद्ध हो सकता है
एक कटु संदेश:
हम अति संबद्ध, अविभाजित
इस पृथवी पर
सभी जीवों का अधिकार एक समान
---
The un-examined life is not worth living.
- Socrates
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