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I will be | World Heritage Day Poem


Old man saviour sculpture at Kodaikanal, Tamil Nadu
Old man saviour sculpture at Kodaikanal, Tamil Nadu

In chilling cold
In scorching heat
In between, it rains upon me

In bright days
In dark nights
In between the gold dawns upon me

In wild crowds
In lonely times
In between someone admires me

In acid pours
In mercury spews
In between someone sings for me

I was
I am 
I will be
Till
You love me

Kodaikanal is a small hill station in Tamil Nadu but mighty popular down south. I didn't know so many people love it until I saw it myself. It has markets, people, chocolates, weed, so that explains a lot. Kodaikanal is a natural beauty overpowered by huge influx of people. I hated it until I played cricket with kids who didn't share a common language. I loved it when I cycled around the lake over the cliff. Cool breeze, sparse traffic, only strangers, and then you cycle down the slope of a cliff with no paddling, no braking. It was mesmerizing. I am a patron of fine mosaic work and sculptures. My eyes have been trained over years to find sculptures. So, I found this gentleman(picture) amid lush greens, chilling with eyes closed.

Kodaikanal has been struggling with widespread mercury pollution. The closure of Unilever's mercury factory has not been able to restore the same tourism. Just like Dow Jones, Unilever too isn't too worried about cleaning up the mess already created. Sofia Ashraf reacted with a rap song "Kodaikanal Won't" to the tune of Nicki Minaj's "Anaconda" which had garnered 4 million+ hits, at the time of writing.


I find this gentleman(picture), wondering at the proceedings around him. Does world appear a good place in his eyes, behind those closed eyelids? That's the question I ask on this World Heritage Day. Comment/share your views.

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