when the world would open up to me
when I’d be counted among the ‘grown-ups’
when decisions would hear my say
and actions would ask for my help
when no longer my name would be ‘shut up’
when I’d have the right to demand for what’s just
and I’d do without boundaries what I must.
As I step, into the new world
I feel my expectations, getting curled.
I see a world with crushed values
In the name of which what remain are statues
I see a world, where flock follows flock
and is called lunatic, one who breaks the lock
I see a world, where talks are many but listeners are few
And actions on the talks, are only left due.
I see a world, where relationships are weighed
not on a scale of feelings and emotions
but on the basis, of money and status
Returns are what guide the foundations of friendship
Meager to leave and rich ones to keep.
A bank of favors, is in operation
where deposits and withdrawals go turn by turn
And if a friend is unable to help in the time of need
then his name goes off the list indeed.
I see moral values crushed beneath the claws of culture
like the seagull in claws of a vulture
Everyday we sell ourselves, to be a part of a race
with no end and no aim we increase our pace
just to get ahead of others we try to follow
and instead lead them to the great hollow.
And in the race, we loose the basic question
that what is the purpose behind our formation
But such ‘philosophy’ can wait
‘cause we have other records to set straight
We have things that need to be done
and till then I should stay mum
‘cause I ask, they say, too many questions
ones for which I’ll get no answer
‘cause they also searched for it once
before being sucked into the world
and that will be my destiny too
‘cause all the people have the same thing to do
they all land into the same place
the sooner I realize it the better
With so many reasons thrown at once
I halt and drop the discussion
and think if should I believe what I’ve heard
and follow the shepherd like the herd.
No I shall not, rings a voice from within
a voice which is beautiful, in its being
the voice of the soul, everyone has
but most bury it, when the real world they pass
I’ve decided not, to bury my call
and the day I do, will be my fall
I believe in Tagore’s world where we shall awaken
into a life which has not been taken
by autocracies in the name of rituals
that day shall bring miracles
with every moment that shall be gone
under the light of the sun.
But today, I fear, I face the today’s world
and it pains to be sane to understand the hurdle
I pray to have strength, not to loose myself
but today I find no one to help
All I hear is ‘you think too much’
so should I stop thinking once and for all
and become one in the mindless herd
or should I choose the path less taken
I ask thee, answer me
What would you have done?
- Vishal Gupta
1st August ‘09
