Do you want war? by Juhi Meshram

P|C: Margaret Bourke

Do you want war?

Are you ready to see your houses burning?

Your cities turning into ashes?

Your countrymen dying?

Your lungs craving for clean air?

Your throats hankering for drops of water?

Corpses and blood lying as far as you see?

Your kids getting slaughtered, your women getting raped, your men getting killed?

Your fellow citizens randomly migrating to unknown places? 

Are you ready to witness how many nations would actually support us?

And how many wouldn't?

Are you ready to witness how the country would take shape? 

And what new states will be formed? And who will govern your state?

Are you ready to experience loss of productivity, political conflicts, unrest and misery?

Post-war, what do you think will remain?

We will be left out of money

with no home for sheltering, 

and no food for our babies.

Half of the animals will die, and the other half will be eaten by us.

No trees will be left green to give us fresh air or food.

No amount of money will matter when rates will heighten and resources will lessen.

New diseases will be ready to kill the slot left alive.

Sure, things will get better.

But, what will we do when things get better?

We will rebuild our houses,

plant trees, grow them, pet animals,

reset our jobs, strengthen our technology, rebuild our transport system, make new friends.

Some of us will have grown old, some would have grown weak and some would have died. 

You do realize that not many will survive the war, na? 

How many years you think this process of 'betterment' will take?

50?

100?

100s? 

Can you guess how many days a war can last?

Can you guess the amount of damage it can cause?

Can you guess the number of soldiers that will die, number of thieves that will be born, number of politicians that will turn corrupt? 

In such a case, who will come to our rescue? Are 'we' among ourselves enough?

What you think war will bring you?

Victory?

Peace?

Swachh Bharat?

Smart cities?

Developed nation?

Pakistan thrown out of existence?

What happens to them, shall happen to you.

Win or loose. Will it matter?