It became cloudy.
Suddenly there was lightning,
Thunderstorm and rain.
It rained over and across
The roads of Jubilee circle
On the metal head of
The Ambedkar statue.
The tin roofs of the Chigri bus,
Got the hammering from
The silver nails too.
Sending rhythmic tones
To whoever sat within it.
It rained on the dusty old scooter
Unveiling its name to the world
"Bajaj Chetak"- like it was a fossil.
The kids in the white shirt and
Blue shorts ran around to collect
The ice cubes of the hail.
It rained on their tiny heads.
Over the tripling college boys
On their Splendor Plus and
Over the empty Kingfisher bottles
To mock the chill out of the beer.
It rained on hospital signboards
That said 'do not honk.'
It rained over a punctured tyre
That just wanted to burn in fire.
Over the pigeons and the crows
And the maize feed that they
Wanted to eat- that's how
Their hot meal turned cold.
It wanted to rain on Elliot's
Wastelands too and Silvia's
Pig tree before it could even
Branch out more.
Even on Bukowski's whores
And wine and on that
Frost's road not taken and its
Fresh grass; till one could-
No longer tell the difference
From the other one.
But it strictly wanted to be local,
For some reason.
So it let Karim Mulla's grave
Drench and Chakkadi Balya's
Thirst quench.
By the smell of Mirchi Girmit
It let the crowd elate.
And one of those tractors
To pass playing a Janapad song
On full blast- It let itself
Loosen up a bit to have-
A little fun for a while and
Dance in Tappanguchi style.
Mirchi Girmit- local food prepared from puffed rice
Janapad song- Songs in local slang often played in tractors
Tappanguchi- local free style dance