Special Edition: Staring into the Historical Well

Toolika Rani

Toolika Rani

(Based on the picture by Robert Maddox-Harle titled, “Lydia waiting at the bank That Never Opens”)

 

That year was a doomed one

A black spot in human history- 

Hordes of panicky people rushing to the portals of an erstwhile saviour.

How disastrous it feels when the saviours fail! 

They, who had promised a long, long lease of a lustrous life, illustrious dreams,

O, nothing seemed then out of reach! 

The luxuries of daily existence had been 

Elevated to the latest trend of being,

And none, no one would lag behind, 

They, the banks assured them thus. 

How marvellous!

Loan, the magic word, was thrown 

Into every dream as the philosopher's stone 

Churning out cars, televisions, and more; 

Market was the new-found God.

 

But, then, in 1929, the bubble of mirth did burst,

The doors of banks were shut, 

Her savings sunk in the Wall Street flunk;

She stared stupefied

At the white façade of a closed building 

Against her black outline- 

Black- the colour of mourning, 

Deepening with every ray, 

And, still, there she stayed 

Day after day.

Hope would never betray 

The heart she dwells within, 

One day, may not she see

That things begin changing?

 

White and black together stacked 

One upon another, 

Layers and layers in the annals of time 

A pattern forming forever, 

In the Longue Durée, 

Braudel said,

The Total History lay.

***

 

Bio: Squadron Leader (Dr) Toolika Rani is an ex-Indian Air Force Officer, Mountaineer (Everest Climber), Motivational Speaker (twice TEDx), Bi-lingual poet, Author, Assistant Professor of History. She is the author of eight books i.e Beyond That Wall: Redemption on Everest, Sherpas of Solukhumbu, three English poetry books titled, A Song of the Sky, A Wild Flower, and Thus Sang the Bluebirds, and two Hindi poetry books. She has edited an Anthology on Himalaya, The Mountain was Abuzz, which was displayed at the Kathmandu Mountain Film Festival 2024.

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Setu, September 2025