Lucknow : Nostalgia

From kerosene lanterns to LEDs;
Cow-dung cakes and coal-waste balls,
Solar-dried for cooking traditional foods
To canopy-chimney induction-cookers;
Match sticks to gas lighters;
Hand-fans of flattened cigarette-boxes
Which cooled the hot sweat of searing gusts,
Helped drive away flies, mosquitoes and cicadas,
Prettily designed and frilled
To soundless air-conditioners;
From HMV records, radios to memory cards,
Dark lanes to glaring sodium and halogen lights,
Awakening the streets to broad daylight;
From bamboo cots to mattress beds,
Tongas, ikkas, khadkhadas, buggies
To limousines and e-bulls,
From stringed pouches and money tucked-up
Near the waist or tied to kerchiefs to wallets,
From simplex homes to complex apartments,
From lingering tang of lost time-taking recipes
To instant, fast, two-minute cooks,
I have seen my city expand
As ink on a blotting-paper,
The horizon line change from minarets,
Domes and clock-towers to water-tanks
On apartment-roofs and micro-towers,
I’ve seen one generation give way to another,
My journey has indeed been long,
A little rough, a little tough,
Interspersed with huff and puff,
A pleasure-pain mix making me wonder
Which time was the worst?
Which time was the best?
Then, when moral tales emerged
From morose evenings, dark and dreary;
When heart-touching lines
Flowed from the pen in dim lights
Of K-oil wicks sticking out
From old glass bottles and tin cans;
Melodies that emerged from strings
Tuned by agile, tear-wet fingers;
Canvases splashed with colors
Tinged with emotions;
Or statues brave or brooding to political symbols,
Fettered Freedom or unchained Liberty;
Intriguing veils to naked fashion,
Calm nights or party hullabaloo,
From clear, starry heavens
To faint lights struggling to reach earth
Or glaring head-lights blinding the eyes,
From treasured keep-away of smallest
Things and thoughts alike,
To use and throw of costly items
And precious relationships?