Neither Guns nor Glory, Only Peace By Varsha P

Varsha P is a Pune-based HR and Talent Management professional with over 15 years of experience across leading organizations. Alongside her Master's in HR from the University of Sheffield & Executive credentials from IIM-Indore, she holds a Postgraduate qualification in Defence and Strategic Studies, reflecting her enduring interest in military affairs, geopolitics and peace studies.

At a time when the world seems to have lost its bearings, where borders and limits get redrawn day in and day out, communal hatred fractures communities and innocence become collateral damage, peace feels almost like a distant dream. The greatest fear is that warring nations could become the new normal and we may forget that absence of war is not peace, but prosperity of humanity is.

As I parked the stock on my shoulder,

The bomb all set to fly across the boulder,

My fingers etched as I had to pull the trigger,

How was Peace to come with mayhem and slaughter?

Nothing was different back in the country with webs of malice being spun;

Only Hatred was in the eyes that became wet-n-rouge,

To Divide all, Caste and creed became the household centrifuge,

How was Peace to come with lie and abuse?

A shiver and shudder, I woke up at dawn,

Dream it was, I thanked my Lord.

How precious was it to be boundless and bold,

Peace never to be traded away for diamonds or gold.

What is Peace, I pondered. Was it to smile as danced away the stream?

Was it not to chase the butterflies over to the neighbor’s rim?

All I knew was that we all had to protect Peace,

So that never again Bombs or Guns had to be greased!

All that I yearn for is world with no fear

Where lilies can groove in the lovely atmosphere;

Let’s pledge to keep it that way;

Before it’s too late and dreams turn into nightmares!