Strike off strikes, please (Don't Ban our Daily Bread)

   

   

     

     








                                 "Better ban this wretched profession," he growled
                                   While driving his auto; with an amused smile did
                                   I sit behind watching his raging passion;
                                  "Like an idle beast I have to wait and wait
                                   To earn my meager livelihood, bargaining --
                                   These soaring prices starved us all;
                                   With fresh hopes, Sir, I leave my hut
                                   Expecting at least a full meal for a day;
                                   At night I return cursing my fate again:
                                   Can crooked political stunts and gimmicks feed
                                   Our hungry stomachs? I ask.
                                   These daily strikes like bolts from the blue
                                   Deprive us of our daily bread;
                                   Who thinks of starving mouths and scalding tears?
                                   They butter their cakes and bread with our blood
                                   And cry hoarse about their sacrifice great;
                                   None dares to question these self-styled leaders
                                   Who make us victims just to gain their selfish ends;
                                   How many days and lives went down the drain!
                                   Better leave this wretched work in future; let not
                                   Our children be like us to live like slaves
                                   Slogging all day in torrid heat to earn
                                   A few rupees, not enough to have one meal a day."

          

       








                                 Listening to his words born out of intense agony
                                 My heart throbbed in deep sympathetic vein;
                                 Better ban these inhuman strikes that kill
                                 So many lives, hopes and precious hours;
                                 A friendly pat I gave commending his words
                                 Who dared to speak plain naked truths
                                 Unlike our scheming pioneers of political sphere.
                               

    Note : Bandh has become a very easy weapon in the hands of every one. Lack of vision and ignorance of future consequences are prime causes for this state of affairs. In developed countries people use this only as the last resort knowing how bandhs affect lives of so many people and hamper our economic progress. Because of bandhs so many lost their lives and missed the opportunities of getting jobs and saving the lives of dying people. Can we compensate such things?

As someone said "Bandh is a political terrorism unleashed by disgruntled parties, which are out of power with an intention to grab power."

 " Bandhs have been criticised because of the disruption of everyday life caused by them."

 In India three Bharath Bandhs took place just in one year in 2012 causing huge losses in crores. According too Confederation of Indian Industry nearly 1.25 billion rupees are lost due to bandhs in Industries in India. Likewise educational pursuits of so many students are affected and their standards have deteriorated due to this fast-spreading menace as students are easily available tools for politicians to achieve their goals. An efficient administrative and regulatory system should be formed to resolve the problems of employees and people as well. The parties should be penalised for the loss of property and lives  caused during these disruptive demonstrations.
  
                       "Knowing when to fight is as important as knowing how."       
                 
                      *********************************************        
          
     3rd August, 2014                                                               Somaseshu Gutala

Waste not, Want not

Over-consumption

wastage of food

wastage of water

Wastage of power

                   




                     1)            Waiting and waiting in endless queues
                                     Years and years wasted without any use
                                     Hoping for food in agonized suspense
                                     As scarcity looms in proportions immense
                                     With limited resources and hoarding ways
                                     The common citizen's life-- a daily struggling race!

                    2)             With soaring prices and taxes high
                                     What can one do--too horrible to sigh
                                     The promises made dissolve in vain
                                     A degrading state, a shameful stain
                                     With ever growing population's rate
                                     What growth can vie, a worsening state?

                   3)             Under the grip of ruthless corruption
                                    The rich and mighty thrive: no ration
                                    For them, no shortage, no threatening sound
                                    They roll in luxuries nowhere else found;
                                    Coupled with poverty and scarcity dire
                                    Adulteration rages like forest-fire.

                  4)            Who questions whom? A vicious circle indeed
                                  None takes the blame but slogans lead
                                  To exterminate the ills that feed on men
                                  And how none knows--problems like worms in a fen:
                                  While other nations grow with earnest work
                                  We slink in dishonest ways and duties shirk.

                  5)           Oh thriving Super Powers and States!
                                 Think of us, your fellow-creatures' fates!
                                 Is it your culture to ravish Nature
                                 Till man degrades himself to devilish stature?
                                 Beware of Nature's rule and mighty force;
                                 Bring not on all the terrible woes!

                 6)          What wealth can shape our Nature again?
                               What dollars can reduce the dying pain?
                               What riches can repair our polluted air?
                               What Power can set right our state unfair?
                               Think of your neighbors' fate ere it is too late
                               Let wisdom dawn on us; let us not overuse or waste.

                7)         Oh richest raving men of power and greed!
                             For pomp and show waste not our resources and wealth
                             In heaps you throw on which dogs and beggars feed ;
                             With gold we can't get back lost food and health
                             Let temperate means prevail and kindness reign
                             Let's fight against scarcity and starving pain.

               8)         Till we cut down our wastage and pleasures much
                            We have to languish waiting in queues as such;
                            Let's not over-consume with selfish lust
                            By mutual help and understanding we must
                            Make this planet, a fit place to dwell
                            Not a risky, barren devastating hell.

                                                        An Appeal
                          
              9)        Oh developed Nations of this mighty earth!
                          Waste not, want not, if not-- we, all face death;
                          Like primitive dinosaurs-- a gradual death;
                          Mere luxuries won't ennoble a human beast
                          Think of starving millions, relent at least.  

    " We never know the worth of water till the well is dry." -- Thomas Fuller

   " There is enough in the world for everyone's need : There is not      enough  for everyone's greed." -- Mahatma Gandhi.



  Just to show off their status or to satisfy their uncontrolled desires, man over-consumes creating scarcity of natural resources throwing the poorer lot in a miserable condition. Along with this population explosion and hoarding of necessary provisions worsen the condition. The showy world of advertisements also tempts the  so-called rich to waste their wealth on vain and worthless things without thinking about the problems of others. By using fraudulent and illegal means man tries to exploit the natural resources resulting in wastage and artificial scarcity, which leads to price rise and black marketing.  80% of world's resources are used by a ( 17%) minority of world's population. Developed countries consume resources at a rate 32 times greater than those of developing world. As Laser Brown of "The Earth Policy Institute" said "It would take 1.5 earths to sustain our present level of consumption." In this world 1.3 billion tonnes of food is wasted while more than 870 million people go hungry. In India 27% of power goes wasted due to pilferage,wastage  and leakages. Same is the case with another  precious resource,water. Nearly 25% of water is wasted due to lack of awareness and water-saving methods. In the name of status, people spend crores of rupees during parties and functions and go mad on a buying spree purchasing everything in larger quantities than what they actually need. This results in accumulation of wastage. Our lavish habits and overspending in the long run takes a heavy toll on us with health problems like obesity, diabetes and cardiac troubles reducing our natural immunity.  So let us use our discretion and vision and try to reduce lavish and wasteful ways of utilizing the god-given precious resources and try to help the poorer lot. 


                               ************************************** 
                                                                                                   
            26th July, 2014                                           Somaseshu Gutala
     
                         
                              


                                

Don't Stick to Plastics, Please

Garbage patch on sea

        

Plastic bottles

Sea bed Pollution

 

Plastic bags Pollution

          +

A sea beach in U.K.

View of polluted Jamuna river

                                 
'

                                                  Don't Stick to Plastics, Please

                                1)       We live in a shining world of plastic show
                                          So charmed by plastics we do wear
                                          Plastic smiles on our face and glow
                                          Like plastic dolls in a village fair.

                               2)       We start our day with plastic tools and trays
                                          Till night we use plastics--unaware
                                          Of its toxic spell--deceived by showy surface;
                                          Even sellers in plastic covers wrap up their ware.

                              3)         Rich nations show their status great
                                          By using notes in plastic form;




                                           Even gods molded in plastic--a tragic state
                                      To show off our sophisticated norms.
                            
                         4)         Thousands of tons of plastic waste
                                     We leave unmindful of future doom
                                     Polluting ourselves and world in haste
                                Blind to the pernicious impending gloom.

                   5)         Our earth polluted beyond measure
                                        Obnoxious vapors released into the air
                                        Befouling water and soil, our precious treasure;
                                        The wages of pollution all have to bear.
                           

     
                    

Plastic refuse on water bodies

Artificial Plastic Flowers

Plastic plants

                                             








                          6)            Even humble beasts we do not spare
                                         Poisoning their food with plastic refuse
                                         Thrown out recklessly without any care
                                         Too many comforts men do misuse.

                          7)           Clogged our drains and gutters packt
                                        With plastics, breeding so many ills;
                                        Dreadful diseases do we contract
                                        So many lives -- sheer negligence kills.

                          8)          Setting up super shops and spacious malls
                                       We bid farewell to simple and healthy life;
                                       We move in a world of plastic stalls
                                       Enslaving ourselves to complicated strife.

                         9)          Our simple tools, too, plasticized we know
                                      Our pot, plate, basket, chair and ball
                                      Ignoring our craftsman's troubles and woes
                                      Plastic pollution, the modern man-made devil now.

                      10)          Mere mouthing platitudes-- no gain
                                     Reduce, re-use or re-cycle everything in use;
                                     If too late, we have to repent in vain
                                     The risk of pollution let us defuse.

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

       Note :  Dear Friends, Let us try our best to avoid plastics as it is going to be a 
                  serious hazard and threat to the whole world aggravating pollution.Every
                  minute more than one billion plastic bags are used all over the world.
                  Plastic material takes nearly five hundred years to decompose and mix
                 with the earth. Plastic pollution spreads everywhere over land, water and
                 even air. Many animals, birds and sea creatures lose their lives due to
                 consumption of plastic bags or due to suffocation caused when they are                                          entangled in plastic nets and covers. Plastic vessels affect even humans by
                 their effect on skin, hormones and respiratory organs. Every year more than 
                 ten lakhs of sea birds and one lakh sea creatures are killed due to plastic
                 pollution. Even recycling of plastic material results in emission of poisonous
                gases. Let us use natural materials like cotton, jute and other eco-friendly
                material and try to curb this global menace. As I wrote in "Ode on Earthquake"
                ( We puffed pollution's balloon too full/ Dire doom upon ourselves we pull.)                                     Don't use plastics Please!  
   
                                     Remember "Pollution is the forerunner of perdition."

               17th July, 2014                                                   Somaseshu Gutala 

                   

Just Because........

Concrete Jungle

   

       





























                            We have T.Vs, we watch for hours and hours
                            We turn blind to the beauties of flowers;
                            Crazy after vain expensive fashions
                            We ignore our throbbing inner passions;
                            We have cell phones; we talk and talk so long
                            We lost distinction betwixt right and wrong
                            We switch our gadgets on and let them run
                            Ignorant of fast power depletion;
                            We sit glued to our systems day and night
                            Losing our faculties-a miserable plight;
                            Browsing through maze of confused mass
                            Oh God! no more data, our wits at loss!
                            We burn our pockets by going to malls
                            On a buying spree losing ourselves like thralls;
                            We spend huge bundles with our credit card
                            While starving millions struggle hard;
                            Enslaved to plastics we create pollution
                            A self-made disaster without solution;
                            Drilling deeper into the inmost core
                            We turned our earth a desert with water no more;
                            Showing our status with multi-storeyed towers
                            We ruined ourselves wasting our powers;
                            Shut out from air and natural light
                            Self-imprisoned in flats we suffer our plight;
                            A thousand fold blast of aggravating sounds
                            A hellish pandemonium without any bounds;
                            In pursuit of pleasures, a wild goose chase
                            We miss true joy enmeshed in vicious maze;
                            No end to our desires at Nature's expense
                            We rob her precious bounties immense
                           Just because God gave us freedom divine
                            We do abuse distorting Nature's design;
                            Riches grow fast by unscrupulous means
                            While begging poverty everywhere seen ;
                            With inhuman intellect we dissect poor beasts
                            And torture them without compassion least
                            To feast ourselves and for cosmetic needs
                            Extinction of creatures we never heed;
                            Glutting on vain junk-food we pride ourselves
                            Living in artificial ways we kill ourselves;
                            Addicted to smoke, drinks and drugs
                            We do consume poison to the inmost dregs;
                            We poison plants with chemical manure;
                            And suffer from maladies beyond our cure;
                            We changed our holy rivers to dirty drains
                            We filled our earth with dust just for our gains;
                            We clone strange creatures defying laws
                            Like witches of yore with monstrous claws;
                            With radars, robots and nuclear wars
                            We perish at last like dinosaurs;
                            No sense of charity and service exists
                            Our wishes grow on, an unending list;
                            While maladies grow with astronomical speed
                            Our doctors prescribe drugs with reckless greed;



       












                                                                         

                                 Our devilish plans even polluted space
                                 To occupy planets, a Satanic race;
                                 By our insatiable greed and craze
                                 We doom ourselves by Nature's rage;
                                 Denying God we live like devils
                                 Gross corruption, the source of all ills;
                                 We lost our link with past and earnest faith
                                 Without a goal we suffer ourselves to death;
                                 Exceeding our limits in everything
                                 The knell of destruction we ourselves ring;
                                 Averse to natural ways we ourselves doom
                                 We degraded this world to a den of gloom;
                                 Oh, stop this self-destructive ways, oh God!
                                 Nature's gentle warnings let's not discard;
                                 A simple harmonious life in peaceful ways
                                 Makes this creation happy always.

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

                   (Dedicated to those noble persons who dedicate their lives
                    to protection of  environmental purity)                                                                                                                                  



          29th June, 2014                                         Gutala Somaseshu