Seething with an indignant fire, he wrote many an incisive satire
From behind a veil of anonymity, hitting out at the evils of society.
As Musafir, this hero gained popularity, garnished with notoriety.
In this situation dire, he found himself in an implacable quagmire.
His books suffered a fiery annihilation, filling the foes with elation.
At his trenchant commentaries, the government squirmed with unease.
For Tillotama, Musafir was her hero, soothing, like the fresh breeze.
His very thought had the power to fill her with immense exhilaration.
He was her obsession, of all her ideals, a majestic personification
She was jubilant, when his writings ruffled feather after feather
But absolutely worried when he was caught in a stormy weather
Totally nonplussed was Tillotama at the fact-fiction juxtaposition.
Riddhiman was the name of her hero, Musafir just the nom de plume
But alas, this champion of the underdog, had a sudden inglorious fall.
When he turned mercenary, she seethed at her hero’s impudent gall
Feeling absolutely perplexed, she slipped into unending gloom.
In her mind, the lines between reality and imagination were blurred
Had the courageous hero fallen permanently from the pedestal?
Was her dismantled hero, a zero, or was she being judgmental?
In confusing the real with the imaginary, had she hopelessly erred?
Or from the ashes would her beloved hero rise like a phoenix?
Would the lines between the persona and person be erased?
Would the fallen hero, with his warts and flaws be embraced?
Her love churned, passion burned, she was in an implacable fix.
What would happen to the ideology he so passionately followed?
Would she continue to love the hero of the world of make believe?
Swept by the power of pure love, her apprehensions she swallowed.
Sadly smiling, she determined, her hero, in a new light to perceive.
Based on the protagonist of A Thousand Unspoken Words by Paulami Duttagupta
About the Author
Comments