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Monochrome city: A poem by Neeti Parti


The City is grandiloquent and loquacious.
It speaks to me in elaborate and complex dialects
 
Its coruscating, brilliant, sparkling lights flash shimmering, scintillating messages of splendour and grandeur
That transport the mind into luminescent spaces of wealth and well-being
Fast cars, rock music, coiled bodies moving to rhythmic beats
Rich food, wine infested intimate conversations, loud carefree laughter
 
In the shadows of glimmering bulbs exists a parallel universe
Of ‘made up’ faces, inviting gestures and ‘come hither smiles
In an area color-coded ‘red’ supporting the oldest ‘bare all’ profession known to mankind
Aiming to sell false happiness for remittances to sustain survival
 
The morning brings the rays of golden sunshine
A race against time begins…..
Rush, rush, rush, beat the traffic, meet deadlines, strike deals
The atmosphere is abuzz with ‘money talks’ in the new era of ‘dog eat dog’
 
The shaded patches resound with hungry cries of children smothered by impatient, blowing horns
Of hopeful migrants searching for an elusive life of comfort
Of rag pickers rushing to pick through the mountains of trash
Remnants of the hedonistic night reduced to humungous heaps
 
The colorful city a monochrome

It exists as an oxymoron in images of black and white and shades of grey!