RSS

Friday, April 2, 2010

Desert deluge

A flash flood submerged area in the Khawas village, Barmer district of Rajasthan part of the Great Indian Desert or Thar Desert on Saturday, Aug. 26, 2006. Some of the villages are submerged under 25 feet of water. The children below 8 years in these villages have never seen a drop of rain in their life!
 
Golden sands stretch
simmering in the noon time,
The land of death
a beacon, isolated, pulsating,
A desert draped
in the chronicle of times ancient,
The scorching heat
and the sand dunes beckon.

Amazing legends
Of romance and heroism
Sing regretfully
In the pink castles of royalty,
Pink, blue, golden
Cities welcome mysticism,
A quiet retreat from
the harsh wrath of reality.

Proud moustaches of
men with vibrant turban,
Painted pots poised delicately
on smiling beauties,
Hidden faces in bandini odhni
and heavy jewelry,
The colourful Ghagras in
a rebellious swirl of festivities.

Rajasthan has seen drought
drought that squeezes her dry,
No Rain God answers
the soulful Bhopas echoing pitifully,
Eight years of drought
crushed spent looking at the sky,
Till the heavens one day opened
and poured rain relentlessly.

People danced with
elation as welcome drops fell,
Like a prisoner of war thankful
thirsty parched land drank,
But the cloud burst pouring down
vengeance from hell,
Under 25 feet of deluge water
many villages sank.

Houses gone
washed off in the seething torrent,
Lost is life to the rain
they had waited for years,
Cattle, crops all gone
with the water that came to torment,
Watchful eyes now look
at the desert horizon with fears.

© Nalini Hebbar/openmind/2009 - all rights reserved
Take a leap into my PhotoBlog 


Share/Bookmark

4 COMMENTS:

Kulwant Happy said...

Very nice... I hope that you would start blog in hindi...

Vinita Apte said...

very nicely expressed...is this global warming or what?

Chapters From My Life said...

Very nice Nalini.. May be the kids will not feel bad when they don't get to see rains for years hereafter.. Oooppssss this is sad and funny comments are not good.

Rajendra raikwar said...

Very nice