V.T.Jayadevan

How much electricity does one need
Please tell me, Sir,
For one person?
From the first cry
To the last parting wet smile
How many megawatt ?

To open one’s eyes,
To take the first steps
To sip nectar
along with butterflies,
To cross the borders
on the wings of migratory flights?

To love
To make love
To heal pain and illness
To be serene
To sing, dance, sleep
To travel through
God and Devil
How many megawatt electricity
will one need?

With how much megawatt
can we bring back the birdsong
that has flown away?
To help the stagnant pool
evolve into a cascading stream?
To breathe life
into a tender shoot
or a tiny flower bud?

Tell me, by passing how much current
can we restore the shy cool smile
of a little child
on a despondent man’s
dry parched lips?

How much electricity is needed
to make an urban man
a bit more humble?
a bit more civil?
a bit more loving?

With how many megawatt of electricity
can we bring back
a President, a Minister,
a political leader
to sanity,
to humaneness?

(In solidarity to the anti Nuke struggle in Koodankulam)

(Translated from the Malayalam by S.Santhi)