bangalore

tree-shadowed roads
quiet cafes
happy weather
spring in a step

weekend bangalorians
on brigade road
buying earrings, chappals
bags, belts

late night cars
hitting the high note
roadside bars,
dim dingy pubs

wafts of laughter
draughts of beer
artistes, visiting cards
80s rock

koshy's coffee
blossom's books
mtr's rava idli
radio indigo

majestic bustling
with incoming
and outgoing life

the city
being a city
in spurts of energy
breaking vibrantly through
its sleepy, easy tone.

street rain

saree-rag lady
child on her hip
through the car window
stone-faced man looks away

glistening tar
open drains
a lone wet chappal
in the gutter

a woman curses
as a bike
cuts through the puddle
muck-white salwar

under the bus stop
strangers huddle together
in overlapping
shadow-patterns

look here,
mud-covered tyre
and there,
newspaper print leaks

street rain,
revealing, concealing
filling up, washing away
the secrets of the city.

rule

half the battle won

is knowing

what to say

where, and when