The Kumbakonam Fire
Dr. A. Arunachalam
Are they ahudhies to your pitiless
flames,
Those little piteous things?
Did you for a moment think of the
pains
That might have tormented them?
The pangs the parents, siblings and
friends
Might have suffered?
Couldn’t you think of anything else
To quench your thirst?
Day in and day out so many perform
So many yagnas and feed your tongues
Avidly with fruit, ghee and gold-then
why
Avariciously leap for these tiny
fruits and
Their tiny drops of precious blood?
Whose sin you were washing
On the fateful day …. 16/7?
I have studied purgatorial fire
doesn’t consume.
Dante lies squirming in his grave
having
Belied humanity.
But you devastated the innocent
cherubs
You dastardly, wicked fellow
Leaving out the ignoble owner
And the cowardice teachers?
Have you got the guts to touch the
evil?
May the Holy Fires of the Worlds
Seven
Purge you of the sin of 16/7!
Meanwhile, may the souls of the 90
odd
Rest in peace and forgive the
insensate
Humanity that makes a bargain of
every
Conceivable commodity on earth!