& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

New Year Brainwave

after re-reading The Tempest (for Ranjitda)

Kaiser Haq
'You give me fever' --
Madonna on the iPod
Pouring her heart out.
Nursing a common cold,
I dwell on the
Phenomenology of real fevers.
The mellow pleasures of
The low-grade sort --
Dry skin, mildly aching joints,
Mind disengaged from action —
You could fancy yourself a Buddhist monk Or yogi in placid samadhi;
The irony of 'moderate' fever —
You move from chill
And tachycardia to stupor;
And high-grade fever that guarantees
The high of delirium, After which comes hyperpyrexia —
And farewell life!
Sipping hot tea in bed,
I ride a New Year brainwave:
What if the peddlers of progress
Could equip wielders of power
With an efficient
Fever-inducing device?
For writers, artists, intellectuals, Meditation-conducive 'low-grade',
No more than 39°C or 102.2° F,
Should work wonders, And recalcitrant political activists
Could be taught instant moderation
With moderate fever,
39-40* Cor 102.2-104° F.
Jails could be dismantled
And criminals sentenced at home To a term of 'high-grade',
39-42’Cor 104-107.6° F.
For capital crimes it's higher still.
The Global Mega-Power
With its Mega-Fever machines
Could deal similarly with the whole world. Revive Oriental spiritual traditions
With a 'low-grade' pandemic, tame
Rogue states with a mega-dose of 'moderate', Give terrorists a sharp taste of hyperpyrexia.
A perfect solution
To mankind’s ills,
Don't you think? Utopia!
What is it you're saying?
Product of a febrile imagination?
So is every bleeding utopia, my friend.
And now for another nice hot cuppa!
Kaiser Haq is poel and professor of English at Dhaka University.