How many tails have grown over the years?

Neither the beginning nor the end appears visible.

Jai Hanuman too had a tail, which grew and grew

Until he burnt the entire golden Lanka

He jumped, and jumped and jumped

With a jubilant smile crowning his face

Igniting every nook and corner of the nation

While Vibhishan conspired and slept through.

Ravana, the high and mighty learned king

With his “vaulting ambition,” like Shakespeare’s

Macbeth … and to win the ‘crown’ … Sita

Brought his own doom

Who cares?

Gujrat ignited, cut off like Robinson Crusoe

On an isolated island

Where he reigned supreme,

Has arisen like the barrier reef

And the crest of a mountainous landslide

With a young furious ignited leader

Demanding a part of the ‘tail’

To quench his thirst and hunger

For the delectable icing ‘off the cake’

The story is just a chip of the iceberg.

Communication shattered, life disrupted

The innocent trampled and killed

Police ‘lathi- charging’ kicking and beating

The young and the old … women too

A lesson to teach and prevent the flames

Rising in other parts of the country,

We live in a democratic country

The greatest in the world

But treated no less than criminals

Sorrowfully the tail grows longer and longer

Day by day

As more and more classes, join the fray

And more and more agitation to grab a slice

Of the mouth- watering cake

To taste the creamy layers of reservations

Before it is too late

No one wishes to struggle and earn

It is easier to walk on crutches and drain

The youth’s energy and aspirations to earn with dignity

Where is the country heading?

The pitfalls are grave and disastrous,

The Himalayas are screeching downwards

Tsunamis are turbulent

Mumbai, like Venice may someday drown

Say scientists

Landslides consume lives

There are other more threatening issues to resolve

The flames are uncontrollable

There is water shortage everywhere

Who will burn?

What will burn?

Are we not animals?

Grabbing morsels thrown

                                               ~Shobha Diwakar

                                              Jabalpur, India