How Are You?

 

Something fascinating happened today,

And didn't carry on in a conventional way.

He was standing before me for more than a minute,

And the first sentence he uttered was 'Sourabh, how are you?'

The question was not new,

But were my answers, so long, been true?

 

I peeped into the eye of that guy in the mirror,

And the glare in his eyes implied that he was queerer.

So, I decided to answer in the

Most honest way,

Because only I could hear what I would say.

 

I replied to me that I was fine, and so was the world,

The violence, the terrorism have never been unfurled,

The society ain't no longer patriarchal,

And the misanthropists have lost their sparkle.

 

The Islamic state no longer prevails,

So, the innocents are no longer slayed,

But from the tears in my eyes, he could sense,

The emotion behind my words was intense.

 

I took a pause and looked

into the tears of his eyes,

He was aware since he was me,

that the world is getting demonized.

 

The question 'how are u?' was not new,

But my answer had never been so true.

Out of courtesy, I had said, 'I was fine',

But the tears, behind the mirror, were the real answer of mine.

 

There are attacks and retaliations,

There are Damini’s getting raped.

The heart of the kins of dead soldiers

Are constantly getting ached.

 

They found Jihad in love,

They see dowry in a bride;

They send parents to old-age homes,

Slaughtering poor animals gives them pride.

 

Hit and run kills the homeless,

And justice to them is denied;

Forget about poverty, the poor gets eliminated,

And the wealth disparity gets personified.

 

Malnutrition, on one hand, wastage on the other are endless

And the time to describe them is short.

But at least, I was honest with myself in the mirror,

And avoided saying ‘everything’s fine’, when honestly, it is not.