Parivartan (Change)

It’s a warm day in Hyderabad, India
India - my birthplace and home for 22 years.
Much has changed and then again not much,
As I think this, my mann it wanders ..

The sun is bright in this peninsula country,
And cloudless climes are the norm.
The earthly smell is must and plenty,
And, the breeze is swift and warm.

Rickshaws, scooters, buses and cars
Swarm the streets from wee hours.
The warm air carries their incessant beeps,
And people dodge their crazy weaves.

The cooing cock and door bell tring,
Welcome the day for us desis.
Milkman, newspaper, the bai and bhajiwala,
Are all family in so many places.

The Times, Bollywood, Coffee Days and Nike,
Chai cuttings, Sarees, Ghazals and Shaguuns.
Have made our zindagi a cultural dhun,
One that is danced to every pal by every mann.

Microsoft, Orange, the Birlas and Ambanis,
Are waving flags of khoob-sara paisa.
They are calling to us for a gleaming ‘morrow,
But poverty and abaadi are still yesterday’s borrow.

It’s a time of change, a change of yugg,
For this land of the tri-color and plenty youth,
This youth needs to pause and ask itself;
What amiri do we want – of paisa or the vedic “self”?