Shor in the city






White fury of buses in traffic snarls
Pink whispers of bicycle bells
Black clings of taxi meters on a downward swing
Red cries of peddlers adds to the din
Brown drains carrying debris of food and shit
Mumbai you dream, you elusive bitch!


Mumbai, a deafening noise in deathly quiet lanes
A shove for space in overcrowded trains
Piles of anxious shoes outside temples and mosques.
Drying laundry and bird droppings on window panes.


Mumbai, teary-eyed longing for a tangled kite
A catacomb of glitzy malls and godless shrines
Despondent schools and angry universities
A mesh of installments homes, never quite owned.


Mumbai -- an idea
a cosmos
a mess
a space
a dream
a sigh
a scream maybe.
A city that won't be and neither will we.



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