One day I flew away<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And what did I see?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lamp posts plastered with election manifestos<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Crisping at the edges<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the heat of the pre-monsoon sun<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Politics played second fiddle to the virus<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Roadside shutters opened<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To reveal aquariums<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bettys and cories<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Minnows and mollies<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Feasting on snails and brine shrimp<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Oblivious to the infected street beggars<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Squatting on the pavement<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Slum dwellers queued behind<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The municipal pickup<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For rations of flour and potatoes<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rice paddies defied the pandemic<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But crops couldn\u2019t get<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Past lockdown patrols<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And spoiled in poorly kept silos instead<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Teachers stayed up till sehri<\/em> time<\/p>\n\n\n\n To watch Zoom<\/em> tutorials<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hours of staring at a screen<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gave them headaches<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even Vicks Vaporub<\/em> couldn\u2019t relieve<\/p>\n\n\n\n The merry-go-round stood still<\/p>\n\n\n\n The candy floss pole disappeared<\/p>\n\n\n\n The fairground gathered windfalls<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cStay home, stay safe\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cartoon Network\u2019s new mantra<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sturdy hands massaged spatchcocks<\/p>\n\n\n\n With tandoori masala<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Even though the virus<\/p>\n\n\n\n Was claiming lives<\/p>\n\n\n\n Naan<\/em> and kebab<\/em> had to be ready<\/p>\n\n\n\n For the iftar<\/em> rush<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bright orange spirals<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sizzled in a cast iron wok<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fasting customers scrambled<\/p>\n\n\n\n For Hashem Mia\u2019s famous jilapis<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Social distancing floated away<\/p>\n\n\n\n In open sewers<\/p>\n\n\n\n The tailor\u2019s shears sat idle<\/p>\n\n\n\n Threads unspent<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bobbins untouched<\/p>\n\n\n\n Who\u2019s the culprit:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Covid-19 or Aarong<\/em>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n The jhal muri wala<\/em> gazed wistfully<\/p>\n\n\n\n At clouds above<\/p>\n\n\n\n The unusually quiet<\/p>\n\n\n\n Shapla Chattar<\/em> roundabout<\/p>\n\n\n\n Business was bad<\/p>\n\n\n\n Stolen guavas sufficed<\/p>\n\n\n\n His starving family of five<\/p>\n\n\n\n An expectant mother exhausted<\/p>\n\n\n\n From sobbing all night<\/p>\n\n\n\n Blood trickled down her thigh<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the ambulance<\/p>\n\n\n\n She helplessly waited<\/p>\n\n\n\n For the inevitable<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" One day I flew away And what did I see? Lamp posts plastered with election manifestos Crisping at the edges In the heat of the pre-monsoon sun Politics played second fiddle to the virus Roadside shutters opened To reveal aquariums Bettys and cories Minnows and mollies Feasting on snails and brine shrimp Oblivious to the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":5304,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[69,32,33,47,34],"class_list":{"0":"post-4105","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-poetry","8":"tag-covid-19","9":"tag-featured","10":"tag-picks","11":"tag-poetry","12":"tag-trending"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/goodcompanylit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/goodcompanylit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/goodcompanylit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodcompanylit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodcompanylit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4105"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/goodcompanylit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4105\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5305,"href":"https:\/\/goodcompanylit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4105\/revisions\/5305"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodcompanylit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/goodcompanylit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodcompanylit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodcompanylit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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