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By
Sherin Mary Zacharia
Seated to relax, amma searched
A late evening rainy, a movie she watched
About the Western Ghats, its forests,
Its animals, its people and their lives
Man-animal conflict,
A tangle all tried to untangle
But the knots always got tighter.
Those lives feared each other.
Tigers crouched behind trees
Stealthily they pounced upon goats
Their kids, even human kids
Boundaries were crossed but by whom?
Men in uniform
Men with flags, all trying
To solve this puzzle
But in vain.
Elephants razed down
Farms and homes,
Pain on screen, of co- habitation
Activists raised their voice for man and beast.
Suddenly , our cat sprang up
From her soft cushion
Arched her spine, peaked her ears
Every fur raised!
A beettle had entered our home
Like a tiny silver helicopter,
It hovered around and swirled
With a shrill loud buzz.
Did it jump out of the movie?
From the darkness of the tropical forest
Amma, now on high alert
Initiated a fresh man animal conflict
Raised in her hand was a shoe
But it was only to protect her crew