Diwali Thoughts Poem by Madathil Rajendran Nair

The night ended to greet the morn
As the world around
Boomed and flared
With Diwali fire

The morning wind
Reeked cracker fumes
Wandered lazily around
Over rain-soaked earth
As children roared
In fun and mirth

Kitchens that had worked
Late into night woke again
Early in the morn
To dress up or season
Their day-and-night toil
Of savouries and sweets
And arrange them
In gleaming vessels
And on sprawling plates

As women still wet after their bath
Adorned jasmine on their hair
As they draped silk
Over their bare sandalwood torsos
A TV channel blared
The thousand names
Of the Mother
Of The Universe
With Her mighty image
Seated on a lion
Brightening the screen

A wise man in saffron
His forehead ashen
Stoked his beard
On another channel
His eyes glistening
As he expounded
Profound philosophical truths
From some sacred Sanskrit scripture

A lady activist on another one
Who perhaps had no childhood
Nor seen the glint in the eyes
Of a tot holding a lighted sparkler
Lamented the pollution of the festival
Warned everyone of global warming
And sought a Green Diwali
Sans sound, light and play

Yet another one had a lady
Flamboyant with patchy eyes
Perhaps hyperlipidaemic
Who dished out recipes
Of sautéed chicken with honey
And a salad of dried shrimps
At six in the morning
To her audience sipping tea
Over unbrushed teeth

Another channel aired
A Tamil remake
Of a Hindi thriller
Where the hero flexed his musculature
Splashed gore wherever he went
Overdoing his Hindi counterpart
Like a blazing comet in close orbit

Men on their morning stroll
Paused to greet one another
And debated the harm
The boom, light and sound
Caused to animals and birds
As crows over their head
Seated on a swaying palm
Cawed in utter disdain

An India of diversity
In the abandon of Diwali felicity
Where each had a vision
Where each was right or wrong
According to perceptions
Mixed in a turmoil
In a democratic whirlpool
A fearsome Charybdis

I sat there watching
The din, light and cacophony
Looking at just one lamp
Amidst the thousands of Diwali
That burnt a golden wick
Along the universal spine
Where the noise and light
Melted into naught
In a silence which said
All are not
But just one and that is all

Here I remain an Indian to the hilt
And that is what makes me and my nation click
HAPPY DIWALI TO ALL!