As we reel under the Coronavirus crisis with lives and livelihoods destroyed, I recently recited my poem “दो परिंदों के सवाल” at Harvard’s 24th Annual India Poetry Reading* over Zoom. The theme for this year was “Justice”. The poem personifies two birds that wonder whether humans regret the destruction to nature caused by their activities in the garb of modernization. The birds point out that while we may pride ourselves in developing machines and sophisticated technology to protect ourselves against nature’s fury, we stand so helpless in front of something infinitesimal (the virus) today. They remind us of our exploitative relationship with nature and urge us to stop ravaging their planet, and to slow down and amend our ways.
* This is an annual event hosted by the Laxmi Mittal and Family South Asia Institute and celebrates India’s contributions to literature where poets are invited to recite original compositions in their chosen Indian language
Dr. Nilam Kaushik is an Assistant Professor of Strategy at IIM Bangalore. She graduated with a PhD in Management from the University College London and has a Masters degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Waterloo in Canada. She is a folk artist of Madhubani and Warli art forms, and has held an exhibition in Oxford, England in 2014 titled, ‘Glimpses of the Colors of India’. Since then she has contributed her work to art galleries and raised funds for charities such as for UNICEF’s relief efforts in the aftermath of the Nepal earthquake in 2015. Over the last few summers, she has held Madhubani–Warli and STEM workshops in the village of Pangot in the Nainital District of Uttarakhand for kids and adults ranging from ages 5-22. Dr. Kaushik is also an aspiring poet.