GURUGRAM

It used to be Gurgawan,

A weird kind of name in Haryana,

Oh! It must be a village,

Yes, the little girl in me had this image,

A village with people rowdy,

Who screamed and spoke loudly.

Delhi's close cousin,

A part of the National Capital Region,

It changed in leaps and bounds,

'The Gurgaon', did astound,

With the malls and multi storeyed complexes,

Multinational companies and multiplexes.

I never actually liked the place

With hordes and hordes of rude faces,

Dusty roads and dark nights,

Where people were always eager to show their strength and might,

A concrete facade,

Compared to Delhi, it looked a bit odd.

Then one day the hubby bombed,

"We are shifting to Gurgaon", his voice stormed,

I was irate and restless,

My childhood images troubled more I suppose,

Thinking about the many 'to be made' adjustments,

I relocated in great reluctance.

As I reached Essel Towers,

My heart won over by the lovely flowers,

So concrete has some nature too,

I thought as lovely birds around flew,

The squirrels and the pigeons were my new friends,

Like Beckham, for me they did bend.

Now the family is used to the Haryanvi,

Like the others, very much a part of the city are we,

It is like any other metropolitan,

Hindustan's very own Manhattan,

A part of the national thread,

I wonder at the way day by day it spreads.

Love the Sadar Bazaar and Cyberhub,

Beautiful sectors, watering holes and pubs,

Sheetla Mata Mandir and Maruti,

Kingdom of Dreams with Nautanki Mahal in the Millennium City,

The ship like Gateway Tower,

Make me proud of Indian futuristic architecture.

Funny are the shabby tempos

Racing along with the modern day metro,

The eateries are many,

Sufficient to bind me and the family,

Here we too have shows of theatre loaded with stories,

Rock shows and stand up comedies.

The potholes irk,

The car gives jerks,

I shirk and look away,

With the traffic and crowds I start my day,

Not to mention the water loggings

On a rainy day; with a share of honkings and bawling.   

Some friends new and old,

Help me tide away the dry weather and cold,

The rows of welcoming trees,

A mingling of different cultures in the gentry,

Yes, it is now Gurugram, no more the same,

I am liking and loving it, as it is now home.

©®Madhumita