TECHNOCRATS

                                                      

1)    Like restless running machines they execute

          Their time-bound projects within dead line;

          A collective teamwork with no sense of mine

          Their persistent thinking sharpens them cute;

          Like soulless tools, they have been fashioned that way

          Their sense of time differs entirely from our day.

     2)     Caught in the vortex of busy office schedule

           Their feelings shrink to mechanical routine;

           Like birds with clipt wings in steel cages seen

           In slavish work they search for joy like mules;

           Only pubs and restaurants their oft frequented spots

           In malls and resorts only did they splurge a lot.

  

     3)   Their only goal to work; to work with devilish speed

           Lest they forfeit their high five-figure gain;

           The risk of pink slip spurs them to stress and strain;

           No time to pause and think, before they proceed;

           The hollow dreams they chase at once break down

           Their nerves shattered—their ambitions let down.

     4)   Inured to deadly routine they search for surprise

           To jolt them out of their tedious grind;

           In trivial acts, surprises they try to find;

           The gifts of God they miss and fail to realize

           The joy of cool composure they hardly trace

           In their fast goal-oriented frantic pace.

     5)    No time to chat with others with open mind

           No time to meet others and their feelings share

           No time to read and write, no thought to spare

           No time to live in Nature’s bosom kind

           Enslaved to tools, they wish to converse in signs

           No time to improve their style with heart-throbbing lines.

     6)    In virtual world they ever like to stay

           From their prime roots cut off in alien lands;

           They stay away from home like vagrant bands

           Estranged from tradition and righteous ways;

           About their heritage past they lost their hold

           Long lost, who cares for outdated maxims old ?

     7)      In changing world they quickly interact

           With common sentiments and feelings they view

           To mix with different races and manners new

           To grasp new techniques, tidbits and facts

           Makes them less rigid and play their role with grace;

           Though they rush like robots with hurried pace.

    8)    A global outlook with new flexible norms

           A tech-savvy outlook with practical tools

           Far from bounds of caste, sect and religious rules;

           Far from myths and ritualistic forms

           Far from fairy world of tales and festive cheer

           Suffused with morals they no longer hear.

    9)        Our homely truths still within ring like bells

           Far from home in search of work they went

           In modern ways a lot of time they spent;

           Inured to modern changes, a heavenly hell--

           With humane touch let us fill this world with peace

           Without technical help we can’t live with ease.

   10)   This world needs your fast-paced smart skills indeed.

       To unravel Nature’s mysteries within

       Knowledge with helpful goals is not a sin;

       But be not too much mechanized; we need

       New ways to peace and progress you can blaze

       Blending human values free from greedy craze.

                      ************************

     7th June, 2020                                   Somaseshu Gutala

Note: A technocrat by definition is a person well-equipped with technological skills and swiftness of execution with goal-oriented tasks. Generally they have a lot of influence in Government or in corporate field. In this poem the above term is used in a wider sense covering all persons who work in industries, and big companies. The purpose is to reveal the work pressure and tensions of their lives who have to rush with no time to think and ponder over other deeper dimensions of life. This is not to criticize or comment on their abilities and talents. Especially in this modern age we cannot live without technology and all of us are using it for our daily needs. In one sense we are all technocrats getting used to machines and gadgets. The influence of machines on our lives is immense. So many people are getting addicted to indiscriminate use of machines and electronic devices. But let us not become machines enslaving our inner personality to futile goals.

Technocrats can play a vital and useful role if they blend their skills with noble goals and do not get detached from their native roots which taught them so much and shaped their lives. Knowledge combined with wisdom and noble thoughts will make them free from their mad pursuit materialistic prosperity. So let us express our due gratitude to technocrats for their valuable contribution and sincere hard work and ask them to enlarge their visions and aspirations. As Einstein said; “Concern for man and his fate must always form the chief interest of all technical endeavors. Never forget this in the midst of your diagrams and equations.”

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