Just back from a reading of the book
‘The Deodis of Hyderabad’. .. by Rani Sharma

They used to
build dreams
in those days.
They used to.

Now they chisel
homes
out of concrete blocks.
Now they chisel.

They used to
knit communities
in those days.
They used to.

Now they crowd
atoms
into a nuclear abode.
Now they crowd.

So when we rue
the vanishing
of charm,
and the absence
of etiquette.
So when we rue.

I ask only
that each of us looks
at the hollowness
of the foundations
we have laid,
and the brittle walls
we’ve raised.
The doors we have shut
and the windows we hide from.
I ask only.