Being Human Poem by Anindya Mukhopadhyay

Deeply pained by the news of harm and destruction caused everywhere around the world due to inhuman greed and selfishness; the poet opens the poem with an expression of total disgust and utter disbelief through a series of basic but valid questions. He is shocked to learn that whether it is we humans who have gradually become so evil in nature and dumb in actions to only exploit the planet and not return a favour to our only home. On a satirical note he thus comments, 'even zero adds to value / but what a human being adds? ' The poet is sad when he says, 'what is it that lives in us? / apart from greed, envy and pride' and requests us to 'turn around' and introspect ourselves for the solution and '… not question Darwin / or bother Anaxagoras …' in their graves. Towards the end, he aptly quotes Rousseau and inspires us to follow his philosophy of life in an object to remind us that it is high time we understand the difference between human being and being human, suggesting the central idea behind the poem. Readers, please feel free to comment on the poem. Your comments and feedbacks are most welcome.