What Is a Disaster?

Written by: Elsa K Varghese

Edited By: Saptarchi Biswas

Illustrated by: Deepshikha Banerjee

They called me a disaster, a storm gone awry,

A weight too heavy, a tear in the sky.

Their words cut deeper than any knife,

Leaving me adrift in the wreckage of life.

But what is a disaster? I began to ask,

Is it the hurricane tearing down its task?

A wildfire’s rage, consuming the land,

Or the trembling earth, taking its stand?

Is it a factory leak, spilling its poison?

A war-torn field, the cost of a choice then?

Is it science gone wrong, a chain reaction,

Or the silent cry of a broken fraction?

Yet, I looked around, and what did I see?

People hurting people, endlessly.

Words like weapons, wounds unseen,

Hearts turned cruel, sharp and keen.

Was it my fault, this title I wore?

A disaster in their eyes, something to abhor.

Was it my dreams that didn’t align,

Or the way I strayed outside their design?

But if I am a disaster, so are they,

For they built this storm, in their own way.

Their silence, their scorn, their love withheld,

Left me fractured, a soul rebelled.

Am I the chaos, or am I the cost,

Of a world that’s broken, wandering, lost?

Perhaps the real disaster’s not in me,

But in hearts too blind to truly see.

So call me a storm, a quake, a flood,

Mark me in shadows, name me in blood.

But disasters aren’t born; they’re made and raised,

In a world where kindness is often erased.

And though it hurts, though the pain won’t cease,

I’ll rise from the wreckage, piece by piece.

For even disasters can find their way,

And turn the night into a brighter day.

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