English Literature – Poetry – ☆ In an attempt to scare away the vulture… ☆ Captain Pravin Raghuvanshi, NM

Captain Pravin Raghuvanshi, NM

(We are extremely thankful to Captain Pravin Raghuvanshi Ji for sharing his literary and artworks with e-abhivyakti. An alumnus of IIM Ahmedabad, Capt. Pravin has served the country at national as well international level in various fronts. Presently, working as Senior Advisor, C-DAC in Artificial Intelligence and HPC Group; and involved in various national-level projects.

We present an English Version of Shri Sanjay Bhardwaj’s Hindi Article “गिद्ध को उड़ाने की कोशिश में” published in today’s edition as ☆ संजय उवाच – गिद्ध को उड़ाने की कोशिश में ☆ We extend our heartiest thanks to Captain Pravin Raghuvanshi Ji for this beautiful translation.)

☆ In an attempt to scare away the vulture…☆

The characters of the stories are often found amidst us only, in our surroundings. If one examines the characters, the concerned litterateur/writer will mention that this character lived in his/ her locality or a friend of his/ her mentioned about such and such characters, that is to say, the characters of the stories shape up on paper from the real life. The characters connect with the reader’s compassion and senses. ‘Ah’ and ‘wow’ factors, on the events of the character’s life, become an overwhelming medium of expression of the readers.

The anomaly is that the person who is empathizing with the character of the story, or living the compassion, refuses to interfere with the plight of the characters in real life, saying that: this is a personal matter of the concerned character.

It is only natural to recall talented but unfortunate photographer ‘Kevin Carter’ in this context. Kevin went on to cover a ‘story’ (!) of starvation in Sudan in 1993. He took a photo of a vulture sitting behind a starving baby girl, waiting for her to die. This picture caught the attention of the world towards Sudan. Kevin also received a Pulitzer Prize for this photo. Later on during a TV show, when Kevin was talking about the vulture, a viewer’s comment shook him from within, who retorted rather agonizingly, “There were two vultures there that day. The other had a camera in his hand.”

Due to the guilt, Kevin is believed to have gone into depression later. He committed suicide year later. However, in a letter written before his suicide, Kevin had mentioned that it was due to this photo that Sudan received massive support from the United Nations.

Myriad aspects of this unfortunate story can be discussed, endlessly. There can be consensus or disagreement, but it cannot be denied that before being litterateurs, journalists or photo-journalists, we are human-being first. If the humanity remains, then only will the concerns related to humans shall remain. Also, one aspect of the timeless truth is that there is a vulture within all of us. May be, we cannot to exterminate that vulture in us, but at least, we can try to scare it away!