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- Crane your neck
- to an eerie eyeful
- of a stranger pursuing
- a tree of mangoes and
- your nightmare is alive;
- worse still the deadlier
- of the sinful and with
- farther reaching effects
- in a hungry nation which
- seems unquenchable, almost
- squeamish if not apologetic
- of its deep rooted grumblings
- and growlings and dreams that
- are anathema to underdeveloped
- and politically correct societies
- answering for all but the accursed
- who are inconveniently consumed
- by the dirty yellow lard dripping
- off clanging ladles churned
- at first for years on end in
- a dark damp pot with
- curves teetering as it is
- shoved aside, hidden,
- till it is time –
- Time for one hot meal
- furtively snatched from
- the wada pav stall perched
- on the corner of the pothole,
- unashamed of its nakedness
- in the middle of tar dust and
- somewhere nearby, sometimes
- fallen angels appear in guises
- deceptive of mirage like dishes:
- chicken tikka masala flown in
- from foreign twinkling shores
- specially for patrons expected
- while dying eyes stare in plenty
- as these heavenly senses waft
- by, crooking their smoky fingers,
- winking, beckoning to be gulped
- in mouthfuls of fiery little pieces
- dancing in pools of red velvet;
- daring to be ripped off from
- their exclusivity and enjoyed
- while screaming,
- till it is time –
- Time to eat, ticking,
- dinner time, lunch or
- even breakfast after
- a pillow full of sleep:
- an indulgence of the
- many blind, and for
- the few drooling that
- crave the crispy edges
- of hot samosas,
- there is always
- time for tea.
- – Divya Mangwani
