IGNOBLE STRIVINGS

We bind ourselves

to servility

and stretch out our hands

for charity;

we cross the high seas

for fortunes abroad,

we assume poses

and rule over land

and we sing the praises

of others for dole –

In this manner

most ignoble,

we waste away

our wretched body

only to assuage

the pangs of hunger;

when all that we need

for the purpose

is half a measure

of rice-grain plain!

[Tamil poem by AVVAIYAR (12^th century A.D) rendered into English by Sage TGN]