Bambai Meri Jaan!!!

Dedicated to the Spirit of Bombay. Some raise questions about it, but you need to be in it and be with it, to experience it.

O Bombay, why are you so incomprehensible?
Your mornings never be the same,
If today is smooth, tomorrow is a rough game.
Your pace, the sense of urgency,
The squalor, your ephemeral tranquility.
In spite of all these,
What is that bliss, that doesn’t extinguish your flame?

As I wake up to trod on your chest
And compete with the nation’s best;
I wonder but it aint a concern,
What beckons me to pursue
And not fly to pastures
Where I can begin life anew.

Well I know the answer
But it can’t be put to words
For it’s a feeling- so very real
But still inexplicable.

The blood you have shed-
In the bombings, the floods and riots;
The ignorance you have borne-
By the politicians, the authorities and the powerful;
You still haven’t pressed the breaks,
For if that happens
India’s future would be at stake.

Your undying Spirit,
Your enviable charm,
The way you leave back the past
And embrace every migrant with open arm.

Your language of simplicity,
With the humblest of souls
Being addressed as Boss
Brings the much needed equanimity.

Your air, your water,
Your shelter and your warmth,
Engulfs all sorrow
And prepares the millions to brave tomorrow.

O I need to stop-
For I have reasons-a million
Before I can sever our ties
And that aint possible
Till I bid the final good-bye.