The Abode of the Gods

Satis Shroff
Germany

Some Nepalese learned to read and write
Other Nepalese couldn’t afford it.
Some Nepalese wrote poems and short stories,
Others enjoyed the readings.
Some Nepalese were awarded scholarships,
Others had to work after school.
A few Nepalese went to Oxford and Harvard,
Others didn’t.
Some proclaimed Buddha was born in Lumbini,
A peaceful land,
Crowned by the Himalayas.
How many were killed in the Maoist uprising?
Some Nepalese won awards in English literature abroad,
Other Nepalese climbed all major Himalayan peaks;
Some found icy graves.
Some Nepalese went to Qatar,
Fell from soccer stadiums under construction.
No life insurance, no compensations,
And returned in wooden coffins.
Some Nepalese joined the Brigade of Gurkhas,
To fight for the glory of the British Crown,
And were posthumously awarded Victoria Crosses.
Others joined the Indian Gorkha regiments
And fought against Chinese and Pakistanis.
Some Nepalese stayed rooted in Nepal,
Wrote books in Nepali and won the Madan Puraskar,
A Nepalese Literary Prize.
Others stayed abroad
And had pangs of longing
For the Abode of the Gods:
The Himalayas.