Happy New Year!
I write long, rambling odes this time of the year.
Presenting the gist - the Last three lines that are the crux.
Among years I hope 2021 has in abundance golden days.
Peace, Cheer, Reason the world over, I wish for
Oh Yes! Also Vaccines, Health and Equity for all. 😊
Have a Great 2021!
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For the more kind and merciful and patient among you here is the longer one. Read at your own risk.
Yes I know I have left out many many things good and bad, but here goes.
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This year was confounding,
My annual litany may be too.
My feelings I am just expressing
As to 2020 we bid adieu.
Parasite won the Oscars, a delight.
Brexit became official, no one knew their plight.
Harry and Meghan exited the Royal House,
The world seemed to not know to cheer or to grouse.
India began 2020 with ongoing protests.
Selective inclusion led to much unrest.
And then we proved no matter the party,
With curfews anew, we practiced unity.
Yes, we played the blame game
Yes, stupidity and racism did hold sway
But largely the heart was in the right place
Difficult decisions through a pandemic we faced.
And yet the class barriers stayed
The rich became richer, the poor more displaced
The migrant walk who can forget
We talked CAA, but our own on their own we left.
Now the Farmers' Protest is underway,
Again capitalism tries to persuade.
Is a ‘free’ market worth all the clauses
Are we counting gains where there are losses?
Be it Amphan or the Australian bushfire
Multiple events showed how close we are to the wire.
As viruses respected no borders,
In the lockdown, nature showed her wonders.
As we stayed in, Nature took her rightful place
But soon we again succumbed to pollution's haze
One thing we seem to need to learn still
We can change if only we will.
Economy is not that difficult to manage
We can make do with less when lives are at stake
But while a small virus holds us in thrall
To combat Climate Change we still stall.
The educated and the rich are a dangerous combination
Their privileges to sustain seems their ambition.
And yet world over protests proved
When it matters, to action we are moved.
Statues came down, streets flooded
Governments were petitioned and largely heeded
Black Lives Matter, a global movement
But Dalit lives from this drive are still far removed.
Suicides and Sushant and Nepotism and Drugs
We latched on to events and merrily gave up
We lost Rishi Kapoor, Irfan Khan and Chadwick Boseman to cancer.
But the Selfish Gene maybe our worst danger.
Yet, religion bowed to science and shut its doors
Politics cast aside; For God's sake the Middle East had peace goals.
Yes Indo-China tensions are on the rise
Tempers are monitored; we know there is a price.
We live and breathe alternate realities
Social Dilemma showed us but we refused to believe
Truths are a matter of perspective even if they be fantasies
Fact checking we leave to for-profit companies.
Struck gold this year, did Prime and Netflix
1992 was strangely a delight to revisit,
Online we lived, creating more microcosms
We cared not for the widening chasms.
We want what we want now
To success and work and money we bow
Yet some of us have worked to serve
Some of us have honed our selves.
Sonu Sood inspired, Jacinda Arden too,
The essential workers: doctors, nurses, sweepers.
Perhaps now our workers we will better value
As white collar was superseded by the blue.
Maybe the future protagonist will be the BMC sweeper,
The overworked, underpaid Covid-19 survey administering teacher
May be the nurse wielding the swab or the vaccine
May be the transport worker ensuring our ease.
May be the delivery personnel. May be the local grocer.
As we locked in we learnt who provided what better.
So to 2021, I proceed with hope and gratitude.
I hope with reason and justice we will cease to feud.
I know there will always be some who will stay in the fair lanes,
Among years I hope 2021 has in abundance golden days.
Peace, Cheer, Reason the world over, I wish for
Oh Yes! Also Vaccines, Health and Equity for all. 😊
Happy New Year!
Have a Wonderful 2021.
- Written on 31 Dec 2020/1 Jan 2021.
- Obviously.
- Context and References GOOGLE please.
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