Interpretations of the Ballad with an Apology to Satyam Employees
Cannon to right of them,
Canon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volley’d and thunder’d;
Storm’d at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell
Rode the ten thousand.
‘Forward, the Light Brigade!’
Was there a man dismay’d?
Not tho’ the soldier knew
Some one had blunder’d:
Their’s not to make reply,
Their’s not to reason why,
Their’s but to do and die:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the ten thousand.
The poet refers to "cannon" to right to the right wing politicians who have decided to keep mum on the subject of impending layoff at Satyam. The poet also refers to "canon" to the left (please note the missing"n" in cannon) are the media persons who have already declared an"end" of the light brigade on their headlines. The cannons in the front are the customers who are calling the shots by cancelling contracts, with each shot killing chances of revival of hopes.
The poet has carefully captured the "mounting" tension of the "benches" by depicting them as the riding horsemen whose voices seem to be gagged in their attire and drowned in the noise of shareholders who have taken forward calls on the falling soldiers marked by 3 straight upper-circuits on the national stock exchanges. You see every dead soldier is now worth more to the company than alive. "Into the mouth of hell" is the asset value of an employee. It is a sarcastic remark on the state of IT companies who once swore by the bench strength to win more business and hired like crazy in their pursuits to please the same shareholders.
The command "Forward the light Brigade" asking the question was there a man dismayed? The question begging to be answered to unveil any doubts in the minds of decision makers. Probably no one, the erstwhile board and the new board are unanimous that the only solution in these tough times to send their men to the gallows. Lord Tennyson leaves the question unanswered on the "Someone had blundered" since the case is still under SFIO investigation and it will be premature for him to pass the judgment.
The rest of the poem is offering no help to employee as they go past the cheering crowds into the wilderness of unemployment statistics. More than 300 thousand such soldiers have their jobs in the hands of top 5 IT top decision makers; we can only hope that they make right choices.
The poet seem apologetic on the state of affairs and rather sad about the foregone outcome of battle in the times of innovation and employment being its incidental outcome.
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