THE NEIGHBOUR

Through openings on walls
Of his house if you see

People passing tree-shaded streets
Where grow flowers with hovering bees
Where jumbled echoes of the azhaan
And fabricated hymns of devi maa
Flow waging the decibel battle
Stirring so often the whimsical cattle
That step through a pathway beside
The walls of his wealthy white
Along which is a stinted wall
Not as plastered, not as tall

Frequently, along urine slides down
Upon both walls with familiar sound
Weather guard paint saves the days
For my dear friend with little dismay
But for the man behind the other wall
Great misery does befall
Under his roof, at the lower altitude
Seeps in the filth of a stink profuse
The humming of the heeng fails
All flavours of dinner derailed
The meagre refuge from the day's toil
Becomes reflection of his turmoil

Sounds of anguish and of the obtuse
Do equally both houses produce
Happy days of frolic cries
Also do both often realise
My friend begins with sweet kheer
And for last course has the paan
While his neighbour burns the roti
And bulldozes it for a naan
Both neighbours use same roads
One peddling two wheels, the other driving four

A generator roars at my friend’s home
When power cuts hinder his chandelier’s shine
While his neighbour’s daughter reads alone
Beneath candle flame during examination time
My friend can choose to discard food
While his neighbour feasts on his discards
May be even bread and soup
In absence of his neighbour’s guard

-K.G.