Story Of My Life

Czadanda Saint *

Gone are the days of vanity and pride
When we went around for a joyride
Now is the time for bleakness
And to lose oneself in a whirl of madness
You can see people everywhere
Stranded in the middle of nowhere
The cries, and the tears that follow
Falling upon the masses, all hollow
Nothing left to lose, everything to gain now
Before the darkness and misery, they bow
This bleak reality of life is no shrine
All lost in the mentality of mine and crime
Seen in this ever revolving kaleidoscope
Bereft of scope, hope and even God
Life seems no freeway on the road
The outer rulers drag you underworld
And the inner government mocks you in their world.
Torn between the clash of ideologies, in their fight
I have no place to run and hide, even in my fright
It seems I am born to die in a cell
There is nowhere my life can dwell
There is no escape to an Arcady
A Neverland in the whole eternity
A better future, seems like the fossils of an archaeopteryx
Salvation, being the oncoming apocalypse
All sucked into the grace of hedonism
As if I am looking at reality through a prism
But looking beyond this distorted reign
You see not everyone is in chains and reins
One fights as a prisoner of conscience
While twelve others are rebels of their own design
Sacrificing everything, even their own modesty
To free us from this monstrosity
Leading way by treading through the fire
Carving their footsteps in stones of fire
But nothing changed, everything remain the same
Leaving only memories of fifteen minutes of fame
Where to begin, where to go and where to stand still
Images, mirages appear blackening my will
A life, born and brewed in a bane
Seemingly trapped in an ageless arcane
Only counting down the number of my days
And waiting for me to be caressed
Life at home, seems to be life at hell
So already is struck, my coffin’s final nail
And bet my life on this ultimate dice
To wake up in a deadman’s paradise.

Note: 'Story of my life' is originally a tribute to the late P. Chittaranjan, who self-immolated himself on 14th August 2004, demonstrating against AFSPA.