Why does a human become human?)*
When he breathes not just air,
But **truth**... even when it burns.
Under the **Mahabodhi tree**,
In the silence of **Kalinga’s ash**,
We once chose **compassion** over conquest.
Dharma bloomed in the rice fields,
And the wind sang in **Pali**, not Sanskrit.
But time **rewrote the scrolls**.
The saffron took the sangha’s robe,
Turned **silence into slogans**,
And buried Buddha under **rituals and caste**.
Now the land is a **marketplace of gods**,
Faith sold like salt,
While the poor pray in hunger,
And the rich pray for more.
**Is this humanity?**
A race for rupees,
On a planet gasping for breath?
We mine the Earth,
Plunder her forests,
And **worship stone while ignoring soil**.
Yet...
A child in Sambalpur still draws peace signs in the mud.
A girl in Koraput still sings in Kui,
Telling stories of the moon and the millet.
There is hope.
Not in temples,
But in schools under trees,
Where ethics are not exams
But the art of **living lightly**.
To be human is not to rise above Earth,
But to kneel on her,
To learn from her,
And leave her better than we found her.