Devil and his counterpart
What can a common eye view in few cracks on a
wall?
Maybe an earthquake came, or old age brought her wrath.
In ignorance blissful overlooking the aftermath
Of a deed heinous, we reside, overlooking the nature’s call.
And the dust that rose was but like any other storm in the desert,
The earth that shook was like the beats of an angry crust,
How could the shepherd perceive that lust
Was what instilling unknown horrors in his heart.
Long gone is the boast of centuries old-
Poor now lies the country in unrest great,
Into thin air has vanished the peace that ruled this part,
And whatever else remained was sold-
The devil came, and in lust he got a handsome mate,
He frolicked with destinies with his counterpart.
-7\12\98,Calcutta-63
COMMENTS :
On the 11th and 13th of May 1998 India exploded five nuclear devices. It was totally unexpected and quite a deviation from her defense and nuclear policies (which said that India’s nuclear resources shall be used for peaceful and developmental purposes). Not going into the details or the vortex of controversy as to whether it was good or not, the action was quite ironic. The first day, 11th of May 1998, was Buddha Jayanti (birthday of Gautam Buddha). See: The Buddha smiled, but he died).
Nevertheless, the venture was very secretive. Nobody got an inkling as to what was happening. The ignorant and gullible locals would have thought some earthquake came followed by a dust storm (Ref: The Broken Arrow, starring John Travolta and Christian Slater). The government claimed that there has been no nuclear fallout, but locals noticed innumerable cracks in their mud houses, and two years later NGOs detected a very high incidence of cancer and other radiation diseases.