If only we’d met in another era Of flowers and perfumes When you were all garden, Not just narrow ways. Now suffocating, choking. Yet you rewired, changed me, When I left to return.
-
Creeping in and out,
Without permission.
Paved with poisonous
Veins of gas and fire,
Your unfashionable streets.
Not quite streaked hair,
That flies in the winds,
hope and vanity displayed.
If only we’d met
in another era
Of flowers and perfumes
When you were all garden,
Not just narrow ways.
Now suffocating, choking.
Yet you rewired, changed me,
When I left to return.
You forced on me,
O Bengaluru!
An aggression unbecoming.
I took you on, became you.
Our union readied me
for voyages to follow.
2.
Accidental tourists overstaying a welcome,
Were we, a family of four.
You of boulders, blazing sunlight,
And parks and biryanis
Of sunned castles and
Stunning vistas.
I heard Allah, I heard Buddha,
Loud clarion calls,
Climbed to descend,
Bowed in the wake
Of sounds so pure,
In you I found refuge.
a sober, youthful then,
you made of me a gypsy,
But our affair, dear city
of Hyderabad,
Of lovers and dialects alike,
Was not to last.
3.
A motherboard,
Stretching memory,
brittle components, a peopleness
infecting my every pore.
I roamed your markets,
Embraced your greenlessness,
Haunting a new beloved’s dwelling,
In search of redemption.
Winter's breath, stole my heart,
Inebriated, hugged my collar,
Then you cast aside this glorious robe,
Threw open the skies,
The sun-God's oppressive
harsh march onto parched earth,
You welcomed without delay.
slayed joy, shorn gladness
merciless in its onslaught.
I loved you even so,
O Gurgaon!
Smiling when distraught.
I would return I promise,
In the hope that saplings
Will be trees,
those friends would be keen,
and hail the mecca with me,
of foodies & drunk alike..
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