Mother

 

The traffic comes to a standstill

Near Kalighat metro,

The yellow cabs stand aligned

Like tetris blocks

While people walk around the vehicles

Like water finding every gap

 

I fret at the diesel fumes

Trapped in our auto

Wondering if the traffic lights are working -

You ask, out of nowhere,

What I reckoned

Was the city’s best landmark.

 

Howrah Bridge, Victoria

Immediately comes to mind –

Large, heavy and imposing

I was clearly stuck

In the days of the Raj

While you – you just pointed ahead

 

‘Why not that?

Something as simple and beautiful?’

And you point at the large mosaic

At Kalighat Metro

Mother Teresa stands

With folded hands

 

Welcoming thousands of passers-by

Who never bother to notice,

Blessing this city

Despite all its penury

As if still waiting

For someone to look up

 

I notice now more earnestly

The street urchins selling peanuts

Beggars asking for alms

The smoke choking this city,

Until the signal turns green,

Our auto chugs ahead…