Mukul’s poem, for Different Truths, is about the fact that we are forever seeking balance, caught between two extremes—a perpetual struggle for comfort in an uncomfortable world.

I am never able to condition the
air to my comfort,
A little lower temperature is
a little too cold,
A little higher,
a little too hot.

The comforter doesn’t help either,
Drawing it up
gives me sweat,
Drawing it down
gives me shivers,
Squeezed between the two,
the night is a stirred slumber.

It is not only the story of
my night in the hearth,
It is the saga of my
existence on the earth.

And the ether doesn’t help either.

Picture design Anumita Roy

Mukul Kumar

Mukul Kumar is a civil servant, novelist and poet. Presently he is working in the Ministry of Railways. His published works include three novels, ‘As Boys Become Men’, ‘Seduction by Truth’ and ‘Lost in the Love Maze’, and three poetry anthologies, ‘The Irrepressible Echoes’ ‘Catharsis’ and ‘Rhythm of the Ruins’. Mukul has been honoured with the National award for 0utstanding service to the Indian Railways. His latest poetry collection “Rhythm of the Ruins” achieved the distinction of being recommended for Sahitya Akademi Award, 2024.

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