Colours of a subcontinent like an artists’ palate
Or is just a camouflage I forget
But colours yes
Many many hues under a sea blue sky
Trumpets and bang da bang drums
Through the eyes of a wandering foreigner
who came here for quite something else the whole scene
seems like an enlivened primary school picture book
bang da bang rolling cacophonic festivity
little boys shout a jubilation chant that echoes down the eons
a little girl in ornamental sari joins the dance
round and around the city they parade the deity
another year, a new beginning,
an ancient ritual
bang da bang boosh
the god with an elephant head sits cross-legged, and smiles.
NOORMOHAMED 