EMOTION IN VERSE: The Alien City of Joy by Geetashree Chatterjee

The mini bus rattled on

As I made myself comfortable

On the seat next to

A slit of a window

Praying for a draught of fresh air

To chase away the muggy suffocation inside

Sat next to me a bearded man with

Hooded eyes who stole shy glances at me

My cheeks burnt as I returned his gaze

Through the corner of my eyes

A man with a handsome, rugged face

In whose arms women would give their lives to be

But such luxuries were not for me, I knew

So I turned towards the window

A dreary road whizzed past

Flanked by skeletal buildings whispering history

Centuries old or more

The deep dug trenches in the middle of the road

Tearing the heart of the asphalt

Stretched endlessly

I was told that the city was getting a face lift!

 ……..

My carrier slowed at a traffic light

Amidst rubble and dirt piled high by the roadside

A little naked boy with a stray puppy beside

Played in the grime

Unfazed by the murk that life

Had callously bestowed on him

In awed silence I watched them both

The boy scavenged from the heap of rubbish

A dirty piece of bread half eaten

And broke it into two halves

One he offered the pup

The other half he kept for himself perhaps

The pup wagged its little fluffy tail in unkempt delight

Shocked, I shied away from the barren sight

 …………….

Torn between dreams of ravishes of an inchoate romance

And rude, ragged reality

I oscillated like a ravaged pendulum

As time stood by…..

 ……..

That is how I stumbled into the alien world of the ‘City of Joy’

Wondering whether the surprises that life sprang at us

Were manmade or God’s vitriolic ploy