Sometime when night is on

Light has gone

Try to look in her eyes

Where the love light never dies

Where there is bright tomorrow

There is no trace of sorrow

Flowers bloom there

Autmn leaves are nowhere

She will be there everytime

Just to bring lighter time

Her love removes every hurdle

Because she is mother

I was travelling on the same road

that led to my lovely village.

But to my surprise it seemed as if —

there hasn’t been a village for ages.

I was wondering;

Where did the neem tree disappear?

Whose shade was very dear,

All bullock carts disappeared,

Dusty grounds by roads were cleared,

I was searching for my village

I looked, I searched and at last I found one.

I was happy, I was disappointed.

Happy for, no longer did people walk on dusty paths — there were roads.

No longer did people suffer from diseases — there were hospitals.

No longer did people read under streetlights — there was electricity

But on the other hand, I was disappointed

for now people in villages will become

Selfish, greedy, mean, self-centered

I again thought for a while

that the old village was nice.

Everyday in newspapers and TV I see,

India Shining campaign.

Billions of rupees spent to make India shine,

And to the dark clouds lead a silver line.

Construct a temple here and a masjid there

and country will find itself nowhere.

Sisters and brothers, politicians will divide

Terrorist attacks, tehelkas, unreliable rails,

Taxes rain, while monsoon fails.

While the upper classes dream,

Millions don’t have a roof over their heads,

they can only scream

Laloos and Mayawatis are loved

Lyngdhos and Dubeys are hated

Crores are spent for financing

birthdays celebrated.

Corruption has become a birthright

Cheating we acquired.

But sad story is

honest people are not required.

The problem is govt shows only its successes and glosses over the failures.

Meanwhile upto the elections

India will shine — under dim moonlight.

This feature was published on March 6, 2004