News Or Noise? Poem by AAHAN VARMA

Every night at dinner,

His father switched on the news.
Hoping to understand the country,
Not to watch another feud.
A student needed a job.

A patient needed care.
A school needed teachers.
Real problems were everywhere.
But the screen had different plans.

The shouting had begun.
One anchor picked a side.
Another picked someone to outrun.
'Hindu versus Muslim! '

'Who insulted whom? '
The volume kept rising,
While the truth left the room.

The question isn't
Who won the debate.
The question is
Why the real issues wait.

The question isn't
Who shouted the loudest.
The question is
Why facts sounded the quietest.

Unemployment waited.
Education waited.
Healthcare waited too.

But every night the spotlight
Found something else to do.
A farmer's struggle got thirty seconds.

A student's future got none.
Yet hours were spent deciding
Who had already won.

The screen kept glowing.
The noise kept growing.
And somewhere in the corner,
The truth kept slowing.

We don't ask for silence.
We don't ask for perfection.
We're simply asking
Where is the information beneath the projection?

Because when outrage becomes entertainment,
And attention becomes a game,
People stop learning what's happening
They only remember who's to blame.

The screen keeps shouting.
The truth keeps waiting.

And that's the difference,
Between informing a nation
And merely entertaining.