“He did it again,” yelled the aunt in yellow
“He parked his car again, in our
spot”
“How dare he!” the uncle bellowed,
And went to his neighbour for yet
another fight
“Learn our language,” said the
passenger,
And slapped the taxi driver
“Or else,” he added as an
afterthought
The sweeper ran, ducking blows meant for someone else’s anger
He still owed his mother a visit
before Diwali
It would probably be her last
A leader stoked the flames
“Burn everything down for your
rights,” he said
And bridges and buses burned
Smoke rose over the highway Ambulances
stood still Tyres burned
And a city held its breath
Somewhere under a cart, a dog lost
her three-day-old puppy
The leader across the border
Vowed to claim Kashmir
His children were safe across the
sea
It didn't matter whose son lay
face-down in the field,
As long as the border moved an
inch on a map somewhere
Despots elsewhere sent missiles soaring,
Blocking canals, rivers and
straits,
Calling it collateral for the
Greater Good,
Then moving on to the evening
briefing
The shouting stopped
For a moment, everyone listened
To a storm that made no sound
They looked heavenwards
Birds flew, away from something they
could not see
Beyond the horizon, trees fell, one after another,
And the rumble grew stronger
Then the mountains opened
The heavens broke
And water came roaring down from
the catchments,
Filling valleys, swallowing roads,
Taking everything in its path
No boundaries No religion No caste
No language
No Jews No Muslims No Hindus No
Christians
No peaceful No violent No neutral
The river spared none!
Buildings became toys
Bridges became twigs
Humans became specks,
Settlements resembled a civilization
destroyed!
And then, the water settled For a
while
Mud and slime, uprooted trees, broken
walls
Rested on the terrace of a house
That somehow held on
A young boy stood there,
Mud and blood streaked across his
face
His little sister clung to his
back
He did not know if she was alive
His parents were buried beneath
his feet,
Or washed away miles some place
He didn’t know!
A woman waded through the muck,
Calling a name into the mud
The same name Again And again
Not yet ready to believe that it
was over
Not yet ready to stop calling
It was all over for now
The headlines screamed of nature’s
fury
But the river had made no
exception
