( I )
What happened
to this beautiful city?
All her broad
streets appear now too shrunken
Squeezed in
by many tall multi-storied mansions
Not an inch
of space left free for air to flow
The city crushed by
teeming millions of people
Choked by so
many poisonous vapors
Seems a chaos
of speeding vehicles
Congested with long heavy
traffic jams
Hours of waiting exhaust their
patience
And set their
nerves on fire; none cared
For traffic
rules and impending risks;
Their goal
only to overtake others
Caring not at
all for fatal mishaps.
Driving
helter-skelter with reckless feats.
The roads turned death-traps
with broken trenches and pits
With
shattered limbs and broken vehicles
None cared
to stop and help the bleeding men;
The drivers click only snaps
with frigid stony hearts
Exulting in
catching real blood-soaked scenes
( I I )
What happened
to their inward human feelings?
Once noble
hearts did serve in selfless ways
Helping the
poor and needy persons a lot
Founding big
hospitals, shelters and schools
Planning vast
parks, playgrounds and shady trees
Big lakes, wells and
ponds filled with water pure
True honesty
coupled with kindly acts
Made this
place once a peaceful center of bliss;
No cunning cruel acts
upset the rhythm of life
No greedy vice robbed ; no
cheating tactics;
Now safety
and security nowhere seen
Our daily
papers thrive on sensational news
Building mountains
out of trivial things;
Duping others now seems
a daily pastime
An unprecedented
rise in various crimes
Of murders, rapes,robberies
and strikes.
The
dividing line between man and brute
Vanishing,
Alas! Who is to blame?
( I I
I )
What
happened to her rivers and lakes?
Once happy
places with many clean stepped Ghats
Where people swam with
pleasure through waters pure
Now turned
to stagnant weed-grown pits
With loads
of contaminated chemicals foul
And drainage
pipes ejecting sewage stuff
Storehouses
of all diseases with swelling foam
Shrunken by
land-grabbers and dusty garbage fills
In thousands these
lakes existed in past
Esteemed as
the pride and grace of this city
Now changed to dirty cesspools and septic tanks.
( I V )
What happened
to her lofty hills and vacant lands?
Bludgeoned to
death by digging land sharks vile
Even temple
stones now turned to building blocks
Our heritage proud gone
to rubble and dust
Neglected lie old forts and monuments in
shambles
With crumbling walls as dens for vicious
men ;
No concern for glory and rich tradition
Many lands encroached and destroyed by
looting folk
None to restrain and protect these structures
great
Ruined by time and dug by treasure
hunters.
( V )
What happened to her green spaces and
wilds?
Once praised as a happy paradise
Now wears a bare deserted dreary look;
Gigantic trees with wide-spread branches
Now felled to dust by cruel mechanical
tools
To build lifeless structures blocking
light and air
An easy task to kill these precious
gifts of Nature
How many years it needs to see
these lofty trees
That give cool shade and purify the air;
Does development mean robbing nature green?
Does it mean indiscriminate destruction?
The vast lands filled with industries and
flats
Turned this once happy place to a concrete
jungle
Polluted with dust, sounds and poisonous
air
Not a patch of ground left for men to walk
with peace
Or for children to play on grassy lawns;
Those pretty gardens lost and the green spaces gone
And heaps of garbage infecting villages too ;
( V
I )
What happened to colorful birds
and beasts around?
Forests destroyed by expanding urban bounds
Lost their inhabitants too killed by men;
Just for their skin, meat, nails and feathers;
Many species became extinct and what more
remain
Lead a wretched life with lurking dangers;
Sans shelter, water and food to survive;
Sheer promises hover like clouds above
Shedding no drop of rain with cunning
show
Fooling the public for their own
personal ends
Our leaders thrive in shady crooked
deals
Our votes bartered for petty paper notes
Once elected none cares about our weal ;
Our ruling trends none contemplates to mend ;
Our cities stink with many unsolved problems
With narrow roads, potholes and foul clogged drains.
What happened to this beautiful city?
Once a true haven for spacious space
and peace.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1st September, 2018 Somaseshu Gutala
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