My Affair With India – Two simple poems

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Mommy India…

I’ve always loved you the way you are
Rich or poor, good or bad, pretty or scarred

But if you’re shining high, that’s better still
For one day I shall undeniably return to thee

To live my pending life in your cosy lap
To play some more childhood games

To pay off the debts I owe to you
To give back what I received from you

To know you more, from the depths of my heart
Dig deeper into deep roots of my ancestry

To finally sleep rested, layered in your dusty grounds
To scatter and flow immersed in your holy rivers

Till then I will love you from wherever I am
From far or near…from near and far

©2017 Alka 

♥♥♥

India…my last wish

India is my first love
Once, it was my heart
And soul, my birthplace
That I never wished to leave

Two decades gone living
A two-faced life of an NRI
A non-resident Indian
An Australian-Indian

But what am I to India?
A guest for just a few days
Or few weeks. Not for month
After month, not for years

For one long year, if I get to live
A life of a resident Indian
That I once naturally was…
A wish come true it will be

Every single day – for an year
Waking up to the Indian sun
Sweet Indian birds chirping
Simple street side vendors
(I don’t care for shopping malls)

No depressed NRIs around me
Only genuinely happy Indians
With their no-pretense smiles
Going about their everyday lives

To reside in India in my own home
Not as a guest in others’ homes
No flimsy longing, for relations or friends
Rather be bored of them, at peace with them

The country becomes mine, my very own
If not forever, at least for an year
That’s not asking for too much
Not a wish that cannot become real

©2017 Alka Girdhar.

Author: Alka

Writer, poet, artist and social activist. A former educationist and radio anchor, I've also worked in the public service, banking and IT. In my blogs, you will find my original poems, short-stories and long articles on variety of themes - particularly social, motivational and inspirational. Music, art and photography are my other interests that I often integrate within my writings.

2 thoughts on “My Affair With India – Two simple poems”

  1. I loved the image of returning to the lap, to play out old age with childhood games. That image warmed me with a sense of longing and also hopefulness – combination of safety, play and peace. It also captured for me the essence you want India to retain.

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    1. Thanks! You grasped it so well. That lap is where we begin our life and move away. But by the time a migrant is (if ever) able to return back to his/her roots, it will be an aging body with a youngish mind still desirous of playing pending games. That longing often remains a longing…but you are right about safety and peace. That’s how I feel when I visit my native country. Peace.

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