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?
