It's normal for Finance Ministers to quote famous poets and eminent personalities to drive home a point or as a breather during their budget presentations. Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Isaac, however, while presenting the last budget of the current Left Democratic Front Government, opted to quote poems written by students from Kerala.
The reason for this in the Finance Minster's own words: "Public education has undergone a sea change in Kerala in recent times. Infrastructure development has played a key role in this. This has increased children's creative skills. That's why I have included poems by children in my speech."
Isaac began his speech with a poem by K Sneha, a seventh-grade student of GHS Kuzhalmannam, Palakkad. Sneha and her family, who live in a house that is covered with tarpaulin sheets to prevent rainwater, were surprised to get a call from her teachers with the good news.
Let's take a quick look at all the poems that Isaac used in his speech to give hope that Kerala and its economy will rise up amid all the struggles.
1.
Day will dawn
And Sun will rise radiant,
Merciful flowers will bloom
And light will make a paradise of earth
We will fight Corona and succeed
And bring back a happy dawn
K.Sneha, GHS Kuzhalmannam, Palakkad
2.
The war will be won
A new dawn will rise
We shall move on
History would resound
Our saga of triumph.
R.S.Karthika, NSS HSS, Madavoor, Thiruvananthapuram
3.
When you announced a world war
from inside a protein membrane,
You were also teaching us
How not to be defeated.
A great book not taught
By even a thousand war histories
We have ingrained now within us.
K.H.Alakananda, a ninth standard student of GHSS Kaniyabetta, Wayanad
4.
To lend strength
To our brethren,
Don't we stand not just beside,
But right in front...?
A focussed government too, with us
Marching by the side of us
Kumari Kaniha, a 9th standard student, Government HSS, Ayyankoickal
4.
No trade, no business
These are times
Man gets confined,
At home -- jobless, wageless
Navalu Rehman, a ninth standard student of Government Technical School, Thottada
5.
We who saw many depths
We who writhed in many vortices
We who were consumed by many fires
We are born to rise again
We wouldn't lose even in death.
S S Jackson, ninth standard student of St.Joseph HSS, Thiruvananthapuram
6.
Like an old garment greyed with age,
Like an old bronze vessel dulled with verdigris,
Her life.
Stuck between washed and ironed garments
Within the scoured and stacked pots
On the cleaned and polished floor.
Arundhati Jayakumar, a 10th standard student of Rajiv Gandhi Memorial HSS, Mokeri, Kannur
7.
Needn't go out.
If you open the laptop
You can do the outside work
As much as you wish
See the whole world without, within it.
Anjana Santhosh, a 9th standard student of Mar St.Stephen High School, Valakom, Ernakulam
8.
It is dark all around
A murk spawned of pandemic
We should light
A taper of care!
Inara Ali, seventh standard student of Government HS Pacheni, Kannur
9.
Proudly perched on the heights
Of "Total Literacy"
They don't get repelled
Throwing waste around,
In the stealth of darkness.
Shinaz Ashraf, 8th standard student of Kannadiparambu GHSS, Kannur
10.
The spring will return
So will the wintry fall
The autumnal showers
and torrential rains
We'll fight without losing
Soft breeze will caress
Paddy fields will yield
If we move together in unison
Everything will return to us...
Alex Robin Roy, 9th standard student of Koyikkal GHSS, Kollam
11.
Parting dark clouds away,
Wading through woeful days and nights,
Claws and beaks tempered,
We shall fly aloft
As Garuda, the divine.
Let's rise to a new dawn!
Let's take off, soaring high!
Devananda, 7th Standard student, GUPS, Malancheri, Malappuram
12.
No fish inflicts wounds
On the ocean,
No bird-wing Ruptures the sky,
The butterfly- kiss
Leaves the bloom
Un-burdened,
Still man alone
Thus ruins the earth.
Afra Mariam, 7th standard student, GUPS, Karingapara, Malappuram
13.
Oh let my dreams
Gently grow wings!
And therein blow the conch,
The morning clarion
Of a radiant new age.
K P Amal, GHSS School, Kannampadi, Idukki
