Shameless Broadcast of a Road Trip-8

The road just got wider,

maybe smooth and better,

an expensive toll booth,

ten years back one point one hotels are replaced by four,

with their special ace see room.

Arid breeze was breezy anyways,

no bath needed still now fresher in a village,

Patanka we call it and we will always,

friends you meet after long years,

young have grown older,

older could not do better.

They still hold their sun burned clear lined faces,

with same concern and smile,

bidi and chai eagerly they offer.

Cow dung and drains prosperous darken the village,

the excreta still clean, plastics color the mix,

clean breeze cleans all,

even sweat which stays, with,

full of innocence and happiness of the rural,

static and fresh always the air not need a conditioner,

trust open windows no doors and repeating fan.

Sky virgin clean and lake dry with dust,

the rural roads still that curvy and thinner,

a long night sleep, unending open morning,

unended open spaces, fresh air when relieving,

Not hushy the early morning, need to be moving,

people sitting and talking, saying bye, some remembering,

unending lifts they and unending nagging,

sir, see my village too, it is greener,

has same love, peace and stillness where,

Time is to me. Space it’s unto you.

Shameless Broadcast of a Road Trip-7

A long lost friend is happy to see,

surprised he is and I can see,

a decade back he lived with me,

drove my jeep all night and in hours of wee,

now lives with his family,

but still we see,

again me in him and him in me,

checks my new car says must have been a nice ride,

let us park it, under the shade sahib.

nice neem air is in a cluster of huts living by,

nobody knows Varahi, Santalpur and the cultures they have kept alive,

living together a small hutment of a brotherly muslim clan,

many times blamed for doing Pakistan,

few houses, a dargah, goats, dogs, hens, friends,

a tired horse travelling from lucknow to bhuj,

tired midway,

has shine whiter than sun,

many more things in that stillness, seems no end,

let us have food sir like to have chicken?

I say problem of cholesterol, cannot have none,

also don’t cook me in oil, or let me make my own.

Help yourself Sahib, some my wife has made,

some you can on your own.

and a lot we ate,

hot sun got hotter at the mid-day,

great home but bad house could not keep that heat away,

we have air conditioner, a car, a highway, that will be better I say.

Stay up for a day or two,

My reflection asks me to,

but, cannot dude, later,

Time is to me. Space it’s unto you.

Shameless Broadcast of a Road Trip-6

This thing passing by called land it is funny,

we blame its emptiness for emptiness in our own tummy,

we forget we live, eat and do everything on it,

give it away to our kids, even kill for it,

then ironically they say, Law of the land …isn’t it?

We want water to fill it,

take help of greed, goodness, and everything to keep it.

Lay the road on which I drive,

trees they were and now it is a straight black desert passing by.

Also in between man’s intervention,

canals, water bodies, results of a nation,

bridges anew for faster to use,

for the herders became a muse,

in India you can always stop by,

to ask the herder your way and all his sheep a small hi,

exchange bidis and laughs make it light,

ask who are you and am I going the way right,

scratches his head he says,

don’t know sahib-ji really these new roads confuse,

me too I say, on the highways.

Prolly because

Time is to me. Space it’s unto you.

Shameless Broadcast of a Road Trip-5

Familiar roads familiar sides,

some hours, they pass by,

smooth drive this stretch but a bumpy ride,

I say, let’s stop for a chai,

and here, somewhere here, used to be an old enterprise?

Taste in the tea always a trucker’s delight,

such good it puts glints on any tired eyes.

We find the shop after a few roads, distance and sighs,

Hey!, it has been a long time,

Sorry but because of monkey god today no chai,

we say, we don’t mind and stretch in the vacant dukaan for a while

the fleeting moment it passes by,

He says wait now I recall, squeezes his head, his mind he applies,

I say yeah, a smile and then quickly a good bye,

He looks with his little wet eyes,

now recollecting all years that have gone by,

saying do stop by when you come again this side,

I say, sure maybe but not now,

for

Time is to me. Space it’s unto you.

Shameless Broadcast of a Road Trip-4

Let us take a break sir it has been a while,

ok, soon, as soon as we find something worthwhile, 

then a few miles down the aisle,

on left looks a resort built on tile,

but turns out college one of the pile,

nothing in there sir looks like empty mile.

Outside is better, there is Parle-g and Bristile,

frown is his look the student child,

says he is a local goon but likes our style,

offers his pocket in exchange for what he says has been a good while,

also representing enterprising kaka hangin on his small stile,

all are reasonable with the things they own,

they

ask where you from and where do you rush to in this style,

I say, Delhi, because,

Time is to me. Space it’s unto you.

Shameless Broadcast of a Road Trip-3

The Banas king waiting outside said coffee will be fine,

for I don’t drink either whisky nor chai.

The two shots’d already given me a nice high,

crazy villager I thought would not recognize,

but he did not drink the cup I said was chai.

Never mind the road is smooth,

The hard working chief’s gift,

He calls it’s for you, your brothers,

the state the whole nation.

Rather anyone I am so open,

so come out in the open,

the road all yours,

walk, sit on it, buy a car if you can,

but Banas king has some other notions,

sees beautiful girls asking for lift,

give them sahib if you can,

Can’t, I said my friend,

This is Mehsana and there are too many of them,

and,

Time is to me. Space it’s unto you.