The City, she’s a mean beast.
Breathing prickly, sweaty beads down the commuter’s neck,
nudging him off trains and cackling when he flounders,
one foot on, the other in mid-air,
dancing in limbo
between metal and eternity.
…
The City, she’s a mean beast.
To the old man walking into the traffic’s roar,
she swerves around him, honking, screeching,
glaring her bloodshot sleeplessness
into his moist, ancient eyes
dreaming of calmer days
when wheels and horns meant the annual dussehra fair.
…
The City, she’s a mean beast.
Eating up spaces alive,
devouring, gorging, sucking playgrounds and the sea
wings, leaves and humanity
into her bottomless pit,
her mouth ever-widening, her tongue anticipating,
her rumbles deafening the uneasy calm.
…
The City, she’s a mean beast.
Distorting definitions of home,
of space, time and relationships,
and dimensions unknown,
knowing we will come to her,
knowing we shall obey,
chortling in unmasked delight
at our masochistic, self-flagellating,
tear-stained, emotion-choked,
submissive, obsequious,
enslaved,
emaciated
love.
Wisdom Wears Neon Pyjamas 
wow! Brilliant as always(for lack of better words!)..
Having just encountered the train bit, I agree:)
And Pateti Mubarak!
Wonderful read. An accurate summing up of life in the city.
Piper: Now, now. You’re embarrassing me. 😳
Rajni: 😀 Thank you! (Although Pateti is the day before New Year.)
D: I wonder if all cities are equally nasty. Probably. What do you think? 🙂
Thanks for clearing up the cofusion.I always get mixed up & HAPPY NEW YEAR TOO:)
brilliant! brillaint! and you identify mopre with it when you have grown up in mumbai!
great stuff woman!
cheers!
“between metal and eternity” – wow. That was perfect. I spent barely a year in Bombay, but this really spoke to me.
Rajni: Anytime. Even most Parsis are confused about this one. 🙂 And thank you again. The thought counted.
Abha: Did you grow up in Bombay?
Thinking Cramps: Thanks, girl. 🙂
This was wonderful, OJ.
Dipali: It demanded to be written. And so I complied.
yup yup!! Bombayite thru n thru! met jam alo wahi! and then moved to bengaluru post shaadi!
so 25 years of existence were pretty much spent experiencing the poem! 🙂
cheers!
Abha: Coolness. 😀 You’re an aamchi mulgi then.
!
Aunty G: ?
Just read this…. but she isn”t a mean beast at all, is she? She’s a petulant, wilful, moody little child who wants you to love her as she is, even as she struggles with whatever that is.
wordjunkie: Oh but she is. Perfectly beastly. But it’s real when you love deeply, wholly, devotedly, in spite of imperfections.