White Noise Like:
The undulating highways in Texan landscape,
- The cacti, lizards, dead soil,
dry vegetation and brown hills
in a dusty rolling flat plain on a harsh mid-day,
providing no immediate relief to weary eyes -
Heaving deserts of Sahara and relentless Thar,
Harbouring skeletons under its shifting dunes;
Unending galleries of Palace of Versailles with pieces from past,
The long galleries that easily tire the florid-faced tourists with handy cams,
The unfathomable dark depths -
Of the Atlantic Ocean thrashing about its spiked tail
Churning its bed and upsetting weeds;
And the innards of a labyrinthine Dharavi slums,
Sweating and
Weaving bags and leather goods for the folks
Searching for cheap goods that cost five times
In nearby malls;
Middle-class
Chattering families
Remain silent and apart;
While eating on the same
Glass table filled with fruits, honey and food,
The members prefer to be poles apart,
TV tear-jerkers,
Hollywood re-runs,
Bollywood songs,
Celeb shows and news,
Loud politics
Unite them
In silent dialogues, since none is interested to talk;
Family re-unions are
As rare as mermaids once seen by Hans Christian Andersen,
Or -
Watching together a polar star in Ursa Minor
From a vantage position
In the open country
On star-gazing tours
Conducted by amateur astronomers
On week-ends,
As both -
The open country and stars
Have been swallowed up
By the greedy development Tsars.
And, moreover, nobody wants to watch heavenly stars (Movie stars will do.).
Only short messages,
Tweets,
Occasional phone calls,
Remain like the residues of coffee beans,
In the cup of J Alfred Prufrock,
Who slowly measures his life
With a coffee spoon daily with shaking hands,
- Growing old and bald, poor guy Prufrocok -
But then forgets it all,
In his anxiety to count the floating deadwood
In the sea for a future recall.
