by Preeth Ganapathy
Preeth’s poem is about how in the unbridled quest for materialism, man is in grave danger of losing real joy in the process.
There she was, living by the edge of the pristine waters
Beautiful, ethereal, almost nymph like
Her name was Joy…
None of us wanted to lose sight of her!
As the wheel of time turned
We slowly started to travel –
With Joy following us right behind;
The burning fire of sky-high ambition
And desire for progress raged in us
And we charged towards a life
Filled with the sound of ringing telephones and blaring televisions.
We galloped to the dotcom revolution
And the ever burgeoning network of mobile phones.
We turned back to check and yes, she was there –
Joy dovetailing us,
But in uncharacteristically inscrutable silence.
Was something wrong? We didn’t have time to ponder –
For, we were rapidly sucked into a vortex of fast-paced life.
The click of a mouse, the press of a button
A scroll down the screen and the touch of an app
Unlocked magical wonders hitherto unknown
Ushering us into a borderless, flat world.
Conversations began flowing freely,
Information was ours for the taking,
Data, statistics, graphs and numbers – were talking,
The gap between reality and the virtual started blurring.
In time, the vices of abuse and overuse set in,
When the rosy picture changed.
Spaces reduced but distances increased,
Love in many cases was just a red, heart shaped emoticon,
And in the midst of our busy lives, time started disappearing
Like grains of sand scattered through wisps of wind.
Comfort increased but solace went sorely missing
Pride increased, but Joy? Dear old Joy?
Wasn’t she here? Right behind us?
She was, once, but not anymore…
Now, she is a distant speck, left far behind,
Reminding us it’s time we pause, take a step back,
Adopt a slow and mindful way of living,
Declutter our lives, discard the digital excess,
Refrain from clicking every other button
And scrolling too often; reminding us
That it’s time to connect with loved ones at a deeper level,
Find the energy to turn around the wheel of time
So we can invite Joy to stay with us forever.
Preeth Ganapathy is an officer of the Indian Revenue Service. Her works have been published in a number of online literary magazines and journals.
