No Exit! Poem by Rm. Shanmugam Chettiar

In a play, No Exit, Henri,
A member of the Maquis,
The underground resistance group,
Who fought against Nazis in France,
Is taken prisoner by the Nazis
And brought to interrogation cell.
Henri knows they would torture him
To elicit war information.

Asked of the next place of attack,
To mislead Nazis, Henri gave
False information of the place
And feared they would soon find it wrong.
He must gulp out the truth and betray
His comrades or he must exit
Fearing torture by ending life.
He leapt out of window to death.

The sacrifice of his life is in vain.
The wrong news came to be right news.
Knowing about Henri's weakness
Which might make him spell out the truth,
His comrades fed him with wrong news.
He took it as secret and spell out
Some other place which become right news.
All his comrades were gunned down there.

Sartre's play sums up the crux
Of his existentialist philosophy.
One is free to choose an action
But has no control on outcome
And cannot choose its outcome.
Henri was free to end his life
Or to betray his team members.
His self sacrifice is no avail.

To choose is inevitable.
Not to choose is also a choice.
Any choice is conscious action,
Which is based on some conjecture
Of its effect on us or others.
To that extent we cannot disown.
No escape from pressing choices.
No escape from interrogation cell.
15.03.2019