Love Song of Some Sort

by Anuja Ghosalkar


Love song of some sort,
Eliot and Shakespeare rot.
Tons of fairness cream and mascara.
Meri gali mein aana dubara.

In filthy dark alleys they sing this song of love.
Glitz, glamour and glory,
Of course of a different kind.
Spends his nights in the arms of another.
Smells of crushed mogra and cheap perfume
And sheets that are seldom washed.


Cleans and beautifies, Eliot & Shakespeare knows not,
Takes one client after another on the same cot.
Speaks a faulty language, says it is of love.
Again cleans and beautifies,
No courage to stare at her wrinkled life.
Dollops of cream and dried lipstick.

They sing the song of love,
Both of them.
One about the love in crumpled sheets that are seldom washed.
The other I know not of what!

Biography:
Anuja was conceived, born & brought up in Bombay. She is film researcher & lecturer but is currently producing public service campaign's for a human rights organisation called Breakthrough. She has been actively invovled in experimental theatre in Bombay for over half a decade.

Note: Meri gali mein aana dubara translates from Hindi loosely as "come to my lane again".