In The Aftermath Of Freedom Poem by Venkateswaran Krishnan Sreenivasan

Let us hang our heads in shame,
With chains of slavery on our necks again,
After the light of freedom came,
To end years of darkness and pain

Virtuous men shun politics and power,
Thugs and criminals jump in the fray
Elected by money and muscle power,
They make the laws for us to obey.

When might is right, what is our plight?
Violence and crime on the nation hold sway,
Lawless villains enforce their right
And cultural decadence is here to stay.

Extortion, violence, murder and rape
Are too commonplace now to escape
Exposed to the television scenes as child,
The grownups turn insensitive and wild.

Suicide, rape and murder
Reflect a nation’s mental disorder.
The grossly insane are restrained in their cell
The free roaming lunatics create the hell.

Attacks and assaults on girls and women
Are a blot on the dignity of men
Who treat our mothers equal to dust
And little more than objects of lust

Luxury, penury and disparity
Together breed insecurity
Social reforms are the need of the time
To stem the rising tide of crime

Terrorism must have its roots somewhere
In the hidden crevices of social unrest
Its ire cannot be subdued by fire
But by reformation at their own behest





For forty per cent below poverty line
Nourishing food is a distant dream
As the bane falls more on the childhood’s cream
The future is bleak, an ominous sign.

Most of our children are underfed
And one in eleven under five is dead
To survive after five, they labour for bread
A grim future lies for the nation, ahead.


The aged are left in the lurch to fend
For themselves, by their sons; an ominous trend,
In the shelter homes where they die disowned,
Uncared for, unattended and unmourned

Globalization, an outward curse,
Brought the people to misery worse,
The tiller and the toiler find it hard
To fill their stomach with the meagre reward

Disease is the worst calamity
When it stalks and aggravates poverty,
The plagues once vanquished and forgotten
Make a mighty thrust into our squalid den.

Thousands held for petty crime
Are languishing without trial in jail,
When the powerful thugs bide their time
In their affluent homes for ever on bail

Haven’t you heard our leaders proclaim
‘ All are equal before the law’?
Crimes of their clan, despite their claim,
Are seldom touched by the arm of the law

Two classes of citizens were born with our freedom,
The privileged elite with rights and perks
And the unprivileged underlings, slaves to fiefdom
Whose life still hangs on their master’s quirks.

Where sixty per cent cannot write or read
Democracy remains only in word,
Where mass ignorance is the politician’s need,
The statute on the subject remains ignored.

Our number rises by leaps and bounds
And annuls the progress all around
With no well defined policy or goal,
A backward nation has no global role.


The richer nations are what they are
Due to impact of the march of science;
We glorify our cine and cricket star
But belittle the great strides in science.

Many have greatness thrust upon them
Mediocre men, the media glorify them
Many a pearl lies unseen in the deep’s oyster shell
Weeds outgrow blossoms; for fame, toll your bell.

Religious dogma, now an ascendant force
Blended with politics to a venomous potion
Incites hatred and intolerance,
Reminiscent of the Inquisition

No lasting lessons we learnt as a nation
By centuries of subjugation;
Divided by religion, caste and station,
We are on the verge of disintegration.

History ignored by the people in power
Is bound to repeat to teach them for ever
Sycophancy, hypocrisy and slavery
Are traits that feed their snobbery.

Bandh, hartal and strike
Call it by whatever name you like
Retard the nation’s progress by years
Over this, the parties shed no tears.

Adieu to strikes! the nation’s future is at stake
Work for our own and the country’s sake
No country did ever prosper sans toil
In every sphere, field, factory or soil

Catch our children young to teach
What is evil and what is good
Think! does pedagogy, as we preach,
Instill values for social good?

Amidst this race, we forget the Lord
Who is our Maker and sustains us all,
And propitiate many a human god
For miracles and a quick windfall

Clear the mental cobwebs everyday
By contemplation and meditation;
The cleansed mind will guide the way
To saner thoughts and salvation