The lost Necklace

 

‘Do you remember the Arabian breeze?’

I was asked upon a cup of tea,

And faraway, the flood-gates broke

With city-lights, rain and memory

 

Noisy, dusty, tarps of blue -

It started all in a summer of pain

I was choked until redemption came,

Friends at first, then clouds of rain

 

Little by little, thawed the ice -

Light streamed in, in every scar,

The city mirrored, it had much to show

These footsteps took me near and far

 

Sunset lakes, and forts of lore,

Labyrinthine life that buzz by the sea,

Buddhist caves, temples of gold

A Dargah, synagogue, monastery

 

But the best of them - a ring, an arc

A smile as if, on the city’s face

And when dusk died, the gold would light

At one far end, a lost ‘Necklace’

How many sunsets will I count,

How many days of rain in grey,

Countless dreams, bookended ‘tween -

Gothic gargoyles and a grand Gateway

 

Art-deco, Victorian stones,

Horse drawn cabs from the times that are old,

Chowpatty, Wilsons, Wankhede,

How many beads could that Necklace hold,

 

And berry pulao and Theobroma,

On days, the wallet felt rich awhile,

On empty days, the sea was a friend

A cup of chai, mile after mile

 

My tea in hand, makes a full circle,

‘Do you remember the Arabian breeze?’

I smile - who forgets that din, that bayside drive?

Its inward tides in the city of seas

 

What once was noise, turned throbbing life,

And endless waves that will never cease -

Better than a blank and fresh white page

Is one that is filled, with tears and a crease…

 

25^th February 2022

Dedicated to all those who have ever lived, loved and got lost in the lanes and by-lanes of Mumbai, humbly accepting the many hues of the city, and in turn contributing far more colours than they themselves can imagine. Only to look back one day at a portrait of time and find a palette of paroxysms in the city of ceaseless dreams…