“October 27, 2022”
Tenzen Sambel
Such a tragic day of 2022 was the 27th of October,
Etched in our memory, yet we shudder to remember.
Chagg, Gandhari is a neighbouring village of mine,
Which now lies helpless & needs some sort of intervention divine.
Yet a part of it now lies in ashes and the people have to pay the price!
No matter how much the pain we try to empathize and assume,
Only those who got burnt realize how the fires consume!
Charred in the land, parched with glowing embers,
With temperatures below zero, the homeless body trembles!
On the internet and social media, we talk about modernization,
And here lies a part of the nation that stinks of deprivation!
Hopes are now buried under a two feet mountain of snow,
What feels to be crushed by fire & snow, we can’t even know.
Gandhari, also known as the floral valley because of the vivid flowers that grow every year,
But now in the cold desert, the only thing visible is the growing fear.
A single visit to the place & it is palpable the pain of anguished,
The fires got put off, but also the hopes got extinguished.
Although the administration, NGOs, Locals are answering their cries of help they are aware,
But through this poem, I want each reader to close his/her eyes in a silent prayer.
Tenzen Sambel
