Where shall we go?

The rich paddy fields have disappeared.

Springs, ponds and waterholes are visions

Enthralling us in our sleep.

June’s advent makes us flutter;

The excitement mounting

With the advance of monsoon.    

The storm and the rain,

And the rising water,

Floating and croaking,

Mating   and spawning,

Streams and ponds and puddles,

Soon bubbling with infinite tadpoles.

Future warriors of nature!

Feeding on insects and mosquitoes,

Harmful to nature and man,

Farmers’ friends, occasionally hunted,

Never, we grudged our delicious legs,

           For, we were aplenty.                

           But now our wetland usurped,

We sit dismally in waterholes

 Shallow, dirty and poisoned

Deprived of food, deprived of water

Chemical fertilizers, pesticides, our bane

We die in hordes, of hunger,

    Thirst and poison.              

We are now a handful of survivors;

Tired of fighting a vain battle;

Living each day wondering

Where shall we go?