Old Lucknow at Curfew Time

Old Lucknow at Curfew Time
Originally uploaded by flickr photographerno1

Old Lucknow
A dying thought
behind the curtains
you can spot
tehzeeb adab
reclined in the dalan
on a cot
as they
give way to
modernity
die and rot
pitched battles
as shia sunnis
that they fought
a few deaths here
a few deaths there
is all they got
politics of power
sectarian violence
brings religion
to naught
the poor
the underprivilged
their unchanging lot
the azan silenced
in a gunshot
curfew shoot at sight
like flies they swat
a sinister plot
to defame Islam
cut the plant
break the pot
why cant both
factions live and let live
as an Islamic
afterthought
our defiance
our rituals
age old traditions
the government
bycott
its time to all
this human ugliness
of Hate
we put a stop.

This is a balcony of an old age house on Nakhas in Old Lucknow..

May 20th, 2007