Dr Sobha Diwakar is the Head of the Department of English, C.P.Mahila Vidyalaya, Jabalpur, and she is also a Guest Lecturer, Department of P.G.Studies & Research in English, Rani Durgavathi VishvaVidhyalaya, Jabalpur. She guides M. Phil. research scholars and has published a number of research papers. She is a creative writer and has contributed articles to various newspapers and magazines. At present she is translating a book on Jainism from Hindi into English.
17. The Price of Freedom
So many years have rolled away:
The partition shook so many
Relationships broken unbroken
The plight, the flight
The massacres, the abductions
The rapes, the violence
The distress, the despair
Though lurking in memory
Grows fainter over the years
The building of New India
Grips the countrymen
There is turmoil…
India soars higher and higher - but
Despite progress and prosperity
Material gains root out relationships,
There is dullness … inertia
Children, the future builders of the Nation
Are tensed, duped, oppressed, depressed
The generation grows embittered:
Overburdened, unemployed, rejected
Cast(e) aside
Sky rocketing prices
Promises forgotten,
Has led them astray
Cancer, AIDS, TB, Malaria, Dengue
Are digging the country's entrails…
The environment polluted
Dissolves Nature's charm
In this rat race
There's no time for
Parents, relatives, friends
All are afraid…
Afraid of being cheated,
Cheated by those you trust
Faith! There's no faith
No anchor…
All is lost
This is the price of freedom.
18. This is My India
I can wound,
I can plunder,
I can burn,
I can demolish,
I can build when I want to.
I can sing when I want to.
I can cry when I want to.
I live in free India.
This is My India
Where muscle and money
Boundaries and language
Have wiped off
Gandhi's India
Tagore's India
Because…
This is My India.