Fierce tidal waves rips asunder
Villages, towns, cities...
Humans and cattles
Slain in the battle.
Bodies here and bodies there,
They’re strewn across everywhere
Ghastly sights greet the eye!
Images of misery that linger.
Thousands have perished
Gone forever
Orissa has suffered a tragedy
Can hardly ever recover.
While Orissa weeps...
Its cries can be heard across distant seas
Vast fertile stretches have narrowed
And can never douse its sorrows.
Come forward
Come one, come all
Let’s do our might
So that the state can fight
Its tragedy
With support from us all
Like Kargil
Countrymen should respond to this call.
(I had written this just after the Orissa cyclone around 2002-03)
