A PLAY TITLED ‘NEW YEAR’

Cardboard cutouts of crepuscular birds
Silently flap their wings
In a jagged arrowhead
Over chaos, despondence, carnage
Riding into the dusk of 2011.
End of Act I; thank God it’s over.
The audience awaits the next Act
That would miraculously usher in:
A nation riding on wings of Hope
Justice, Equality, Dignity, Amity, Knowledge.

Act II; oh, how we awaited it?
Suddenly, there are no tears,
No poor and naked,
No hopeless suicides,
No communal violence
No rapes, no child molestations
No loot, no guns, no bombs.
No Hindus, Muslims, Christians and others
Telling us that their god is the only real God.

Suddenly, a tinsel sun is lowered on stage,

And glimmers over a ‘clear stream of reason’
Leading its way slowly but surely
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit’
And young children waving tricolors
Appear singing, “Jai Hind”
To accompaniment of a gentle flute.

As a dazed audience starts leaving
From gallery, stalls and aisles;
The oft repeated comments,
In the applause, are:
“If a play called ‘New Year’
Can usher in all this,
Why can’t we stage it everyday?”

Author: Sunbyanyname

I have done a long stint in the Indian Navy that lasted for nearly thirty seven years; I rose as far as my somewhat rebellious and irreverent nature allowed me to. On retirement, in Feb 2010, the first thing that occurred to me, and those around me, was that I Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (you will find an article with this title in this blog) and hadn't lost all my noodles and hence thought of a blog titled 'This 'n That'. I later realised that every third blog is called 'This 'n That' and changed the name to 'Sunbyanyname'. I detest treading the beaten track. This blog offers me to air 'another way' of looking at things. The idea is not just to entertain but also to bring about a change. Should you feel differently, you are free to leave your comments. You can leave comments even when you agree and want to share your own experience about the topic of the blog post. Impudent or otherwise, I have never been insousciant and I am always concerned about the betterment of community, nation and the world. I hope the visitors of this blog would be able to discern it.

2 thoughts on “A PLAY TITLED ‘NEW YEAR’”

  1. “clear stream of reason”
    “into the dreary and desert sand of dead habit” are of highest poetic quality and explain the theme in no time . That may be our ……..futile habits to see the solution for our problems in trivial rituals

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