A spine-chilling account of a decommissioned prison, by Shernaz, exposes the barbarity of man against his fellow beings. An exclusive for Different Truths.
cramped cubicles... minuscule 4’x7’ cells with little sunlight, no sky to soothe, no electricity, food unfit for animals, the stench of urine and faeces! To that add cockroaches, scorpions, snakes and other creepy-crawlies sharing the baleful, constricted space during the monsoons! Spine-chilling! solitary confinement cells – a dismal unit where convicts spent the last days of life all numbing, blood-curdling sights! Uncanny, unnervingly palpable! frighteningly sobering was the clutch of erstwhile history of crime and punishment... an ominous deterrent to wrongdoings that warrant confinement The guide spun wry humour into the wretched records he hoped to entertain us with... I couldn’t force-weave levity into such miserable tapestry the gamut of human emotions and atrocities I felt would pummel my ears and miserable ghosts of a sinister past would suddenly loom before me their sibilant whispers pleading redemption, their flaming agony seeking to reverse unmerited sentences, grisly narratives threatened to tumble out of the cells and walls; deafening screams, murderous shouts, deadly brawls, brutal commands, smutty language and forlorn sobs seemed to ricochet in the emptiness. The final show piece — the gallows — a gruesome relic of final twinge and terror From it hung the fear and shrieks, the repentance perhaps the unjust ending of a life that pleaded on inclement ears for mercy and fairness I wonder — how justifiable is this form of killing?
Visual by Different Truths
To Shernaz Wadia, reading and writing poems has been one of the means to embark on an inward journey. She hopes her words will bring peace, hope and light into dark corners. Her poems have been published in many e-journals and anthologies. She has published her own book of poems “Whispers of the Soul” and another titled “Tapestry Poetry – A Fusion of Two Minds” with her poetry partner Avril Meallem.
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