Dr Molly’s poem critiques Calcutta’s tragic irony of violence, contrasting its spiritual aura and humanitarianism, calling for empathy and justice, exclusively for Different Truths.
O, Calcutta!
I weep!
how our
sojourn there
at Santiniketan
Literary Fest
immediately
subsumed itself
in gory tales
of
human atrocity
on an
innocent,
a lady doctor
in her prime,
the one
zealous
serving others...
You, Calcutta,
the very land
where
Mother Teresa
showered
heavenly care
and love
on all,
the poor
and needy...
while our
minds
thawed, soaked
in the aura
of cosmic love
peace and
prayers at
Visva-Bharati
and the
spiritual
glow of
Tagore
that enveloped
Calcutta,
hah! how
it came
news of
this gory act
of rape and kill...
shock waves
froze us
benumbing...
how the wile
the evil
in man
surface,
the weird,
the absurd
still dominate...
O, Calcutta!
I weep!
not for you
alone,
but for the
befallen
humanity, the humane
being lost
in this dreary
land of rapacious
greed
where cudgels
fall on
innocents,
women fall
easy prey to
the vicious
hands that
grope and rape...
the land with
pretensions
of a
free nation
offering
safety, and care
for all...
run by
cads and
their cunning
ways of
validation
and
washing off
of their hands...
Picture design by Anumita Roy
Dr Molly Joseph, a bilingual professor and poet from Kerala, has published 26 books, including 18 poems, two novels, and two storybooks for children. She has edited “A Handbook of Contemporary Ethics” and works for values, global peace, and togetherness. Dr Joseph has won national and international accolades and represents India at SAARC and FOSWAL literature meets. She believes in the power of the word and writes boldly on contemporary matters.
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