At godhooli bela (only petrol fumes!) in the city
A perfect picture of domestic felicity glimmering –
Husband watching telly,
Lights, aroma, food gently simmering,
Wife cooking and supervising homework,
Children bowed on books.
A Peep
Into the children’s mind –
‘Study, study, study
Blast the study.
When do we get time
To play, to watch telly?’
Into the husband’s mind –
‘Flick. Flick. Flick.
No, not this, or this
Wait, wait, wait,
Yeah, this. Tea…
Get me a cup of tea.’
Into the wife’s mind –
‘I’m sick, sick, sick
Of the routine.
First office, then
This ever present dreary kitchen
I’d be merry if I never saw it again.
Feel like a wound up rat
On its metallic track
Can’t get off, can’t stop
(Till I’m switched off).
Someone to grumble at
‘Can’t find my socks’
‘My tunic’
‘Please check the locks’
‘The reports should be ready’
Yess boss!
Trying to be everything to everybody
The fractions leave the total behind,
Part time this, part time that –
I am just a fragmented rewind.’
—
Poetry lover? Check out Gitanjali: A Collection of Indian Poems by the Nobel Laureate
