WHERE AND WHEN ? (Blank Verse)

   

                     

                                                         WHERE AND WHEN ?

                                                                      (  I  )

                                     " You took your birth in south western zone

                                      You are not a part of our land:

                                      You were bred in eastern hamlets far

                                      You are not the son of our soil;

                                      You did grow up in suburban towns

                                      You speak with a different accent and tone;

                                      How can we make you a part of us?

                                      Your figure is quite different from ours

                                      Your manners and methods quite different too;

                                      Your ancestors not known, your traditions quite strange;

                                      You are an inhabitant beyond our range."

                                      They said and treated me as an intruder

                                      Their voice unfriendly with a burning touch;

                                      I felt embarrassed in this so called modern age

                                      Still we tilt  with so many dividing lines and isms :

                                      Still we have not regained our cherished vision.

                                      

                                                                           ( I  I  )

                                     The land where I was born now looks quite strange and new

                                     The language they use not much known to me;

                                     The whole town metamorphosed into a new and vast city

                                     Not a face or mansion can I notice now

                                     Even not a plant or bush to testify my place of birth;

                                     The place where I grew up too turned unknown

                                     All sites and scenes dissolved in dreamy fog;

                                     Where are my ancestors and their long withered roots?

                                     Not a trace of their history remains on sands of time ;

                                     Their estates burnt, their lands sold away long ago ;

                                     Even their names not known—a forgotten myth or dream ;

                                     I felt myself, a denizen of bygone ages dropped at once

                                     On a new planet, unrecognized and unnoticed;

                                     What am I? Dislodged, displaced like wandering gypsies

                                     I move like a struggling soul in purgatory

                                     Uncertain of its final destination and goal. 

                               

                                                  

                                                                           ( I I I )

                                     Time has transformed each and every corner

                                     New mansions and new highways with hi-tech malls

                                     My place almost now strange as strange as myself ;

                                     A new group of residents came up

                                     With new fashions, idioms and usage

                                     Ours, an old bygone disappearing stage ;

                                    Like a stranger roaming in a remote unknown land

                                    Like a shattered boat caught in the stormy ocean

                                    Like a stray animal chased by wild beasts

                                    I felt in my own land that changed in all aspects;

                                   A great sea-change in our attitudes and perspectives too –

                                   The eternal question persists “Where and When?”

                                   So many races, cultures and creeds vanished

                                   Still doubting Thomases go on with changing queries;

                                   Perhaps we may face the same question in hell or heaven

                                   Our origin, a mystery beyond our mortal vision.

                                                              ????????????????????????????  

                     24th october, 2017                                           Somaseshu Gutala