Golconda Fort | Samina Hadi-Tabassum

Still sleepy and tired
We boarded the taxi to Golconda Fort
Lulled by last night’s Hyderabadi feast
An early morning break from consciousness

The steep winding gullies
Lead us into a Muslim enclave
With goats bleating along the rocky crags
Sprinkled with the blue dust of dawn

Only men in sharp white kurtas are seen on the streets
Returning from early morning Eid prayers
The voices of women lurch rhythmically from behind the sheeted doorways
Chiding children under the shadowy facades of cinder block homes

As we turn the corner
I catch a glimpse
Of a young boy
Beating a rat with a stick
Wearing a white knit taqiya on his head
Oblivious of the squeal

The streets start becoming more feral
The stares more stark
As we wind our way to the top
Of the ancient sultanate

Indian Review | Author Profile | Samina Hadi-Tabassum is a professor at Dominican University.She has published poems in East Lit Magazine and the Journal of Postcolonial Writing.

 Samina Hadi-Tabassum is a professor at Dominican University.She has published poems in East Lit Magazine and the Journal of Postcolonial Writing.