When fires burn
Both young and old
Day in and out
Alive to death,
Who is to blame-
The bureaucracy or the citizens?
The answer, one really does not know!
Corruption’s the devil, most people say!
Yeah, it seems to be the culprit anyway!
How can the leaders and the bureaucrats just get away?
Is there not something called accountability?
The victims too must take their share of blame;
Should they be not aware of fire’s rage?
What measures do they have if fires break?
Are escape routes enough to move out, if need be?
And every time a fire left charred bones
Of man and beast,
That is the time the leaders wake from sleep:
To make visits, consoling families
Doling out paltry sums
To next of kith and kin,
But never realizing that
Lives once lost
Can never be retrieved!

(Dedicated in tearful homage to the memory of the many children who died
a sad and untimely death in the recent fire out-break
in a school at Kumbakonam, India.
“May their souls rest in peace.”)