OF FLOATING SOULS AND FLEETING CONSCIENCE…

 (In memory of the thousands who lost their lives in the Mumbai deluge of July 26, 2005)

There was a dream I saw last night

That showed me human's helplessness and nature’s might

I got up and cried aloud

‘People, don’t be so proud!’

 

‘These concrete jungles that you’ve created

Is certainly not what our ancestors wanted

From co-existence, you moved on to sole-existence

And further you went on testing nature’s resistance!’

 

I woke up and revisited my dream

That showed me that nature is supreme

Should you now ask what I saw,

Was it in my room, a wild cat’s paw?

 

It was just another morning; who knew it would turn into a day of mourning…

I got ready to set out of my home, and I heard someone groaning

Oh! ‘twas my friend; very much in pain

She tried to free herself, but in vain.

 

She was caught in the violent waters that engulfed this dream city

Oh! Her state was such a pity

The more she tried to come out and above, the more the water on her head was crowned,

People were shouting, my friend was lost, perhaps she had drowned…

 

People ran; they cried for rescue

But alas! even the authorities seemed to have no clue!

The media reported of a deluge

But not a single soul knew that the effect would be so huge.

 

A hitherto dream city of Mumbai was shaken

Lives were lost; nobody knew who was mistaken

The state of affairs was pathetic, if only I could explain

The intensity of loss, the plight of the people, and their pain.

 

“How could nature do this to us?”

Questioned a co-passenger in the bus

I had no answer but another question, whatever it was worth

Why did we this to our earth?

 

We constructed buildings on the land, and moved on towards the sea

What mattered to each of us was- MY AMBITION & ME

Nature is resilient, not negligible

If we forget it, ‘t will show us how long we are able

 

This dream of mine, had once turned into reality

I couldn’t stop it, just wondered at nature’s magnanimity

 But I made a promise, a pledge that is the need of the hour

That we will care for our Earth, for its bounties to shower

That we shall preserve nature and its resources, and not use it limitlessly at our beckon

And it’s high time we turn our words into action..