Monstrous Fortnight Poem by Indira Renganathan

On the day of Deepavali
Misty and pleasant was Udumalpet
Perhaps for the guests from Nellai
A city of only high or low heat

Getting back after happy celebration
No rains blessed us on our way
Crossing Palani a place for devotion
'O'Muruga, give us rains' I did pray

Nearing the 'Welcome' of our junction
Showers greeted us anyway
Thereupon beyond my expectation
Rained, rained and rained to make a boat-way

Boat-way by all means quaffed whole Tamil lustre
Ferocious the flood ate every home
Hid the dead like an ogre
So much stronger my prayer overdoing the loam?

Water-logged everywhere for a fortnight
Wreaking the wreck of transport busses
Gulping passengers, a miserable sight
A valiant demon of scary virtues

Tamil-Nadu a beautiful piece of earth
Now rain-ravaged and devastated
In our long time an unmet wrath
Slapping us to be woe composed

Relief and rescue machinery is high
The demon's lust, the damage remains
May the sacrificed souls in peace lie
I'm too angry with the Lord on Palani hills

So much havoc, so much disaster
O'Muruga is this fair?
Never to meet a monster
Do our hearts desire