Before the sun rises on my horizon,
an IT-types squeezes next to a farmer-types in an auto and clucks.
Men in Nike caps with upside down Ns,
read aloud ‘Welcome to Garia’ in English.
The digital clock lights up,
a dark crowded platform in red.
Speciality hospitals and English-medium Co-Ed boards,
block view.
Five hundred Anandabazars, ninety Times, a hundred Telegraph,
on the platform prepare to announce a life of social mobility –
Tennis, Roses, isms and love.
A vendor inserts splayed Sunday mags in the dailies.
As if the cacophony would hasten the dawn,
the birds persevere.
Up train downloads sewn jute bags with a blue line,
brooms, brinjals and cauliflowers.
Headloads and footboard travel.
Diploma in Fitness Management – Rs 16000/-
A man cups his plams around a match flame –
tender love for an early morning smoke.
A woman squats in steadied wait,
the shawl reveals the glowing sindoor in her hair-parting.
A tea-glass pre-heated by boiling water,
from steam-spouting kettle.
Another cup please! The dawn is delayed today.
Somnath Mukherji writes on Indian Review.
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