Light is sorrow

Don’t watch the news anymore, my son,

It’s better to live in the darkness of ignorance.

Why should you pollute your mind

with all those

rapes and frauds,

assaults and lynching,

lies and deceit?

Remember when you were a little boy

you insisted on joining me

for the morning walk

and I warned you of the dangers that

lurked behind the morning’s grey light?

You insisted on joining me

and you were shocked

by the sight of the bare body

of an assaulted girl

that lay on the roadside.

I quoted Akkitham* to you:

“Light is sorrow, son,

Darkness is solace.”

We are a nation of killers and rapists, son,

Our leaders are vampires who suck our blood

In the name of gods and totems,

Our priests are fake, my son,

The godmen are devil’s men,

Our bishops are windbags,

We are a nation of frauds.

Our gods died long ago

Laughing at the tragicomedy

We enact in their name.

Light is sorrow, my son.

* Akkitham is a Malayalam poet and the lines in quotation marks belong to his poem titled ‘Hell’.