Kolkata ,my city

Kolkata’s kids

Kudos to Kolkata’s kids
With lilywhite cheeks
And lightweight stomachs
Scrounging for food crumbs
In its garbage dumps
They keep the city clean
And our conscience clear.

The Footpath-sleeper of Kolkata

The footpath-sleeper
Turned in his sleep, dreaming
Of a pretty pink ration card.

The old man in Sealdah Station

The eight’o clock local
Failed to wake up the old beggar
Sleeping on the Sealdah station.

Two pretty feet

Two pretty little feet, red and dead,
Zigzagged through the Park Circus traffic
On their last journey.

The Old Pull-cart Man

The old pullcart man
Smoked away all his bidis in the Chowringhee jam
With nothing left for the Kalighat jam.

Green with envy

The footpath-sleeper of Paik Para
First turned red and then green
The sleeper on the Chowringhee footpath
Boasted an upmarket address.

Painting genius

Driver Mondol’s talented son
Paints election billboards
He gets full fifty bucks
For painting Mamata Didi’s chubby cheeks.

Heavy haulage

A hungry pull-cartman hauled
A heavyset seth from Shyam Bazaar for money
Not enough even for mistidoi .

Violence in love

An old arthritic tram
Molested an artistic spinster bus
Transforming her into a dimpled beauty
.

It soots his lungs

The Shyam Bazaar cop breathes in diesel
As though it were eau-de-cologne
Under his snow-white uniform
His lungs are black as a kitchen wall.