This place is made of all sorts of people.
The mad, the bad, the fad, the glad,
And every Hindi movie is a reminder
Of how to bridge the gini coefficient,
With a Bollywoodian love story.
Aishwarya Rai still looks a million, after
Giving birth to a baby Bachchan,
While Sushmitha Sen chooses to adopt.
A tall trans-woman worships
The proud men in sarees walking down
Polluted Indian streets, and wishes that
He too was in colorful Chennai.

In this land, one Virat is richer
Than 1896 other lesser Virats, while
The Kama Sutra condom company calls
The virile Indian cricket team as brand
Ambassadors. The Khans look
Around; – Amir, the positive-sounding one;
Salman, the beefcake; and Shahrukh,
The one bestowed an honor by
An Australian university (La Trobe).
I guess all Khans become emperors one day!

Anil Kapoor and Rajinikanth,
Keep the furry mustache alive.
Who are we to say that a little bit of fuzz
On the upper lip is harmful for any type of
Loving. Prickly skin in strategic places
Can be outright cumbersome though. You have
To give awards to Indian women
To be sleeping with grizzly bears.

The oldest profession lives on here,
In secretive localities, while the youngest,
Puts advertisements on newspapers.
Arranged marriages are a time-tested fad here.
The castes live big, the cults go along,
The big orange cats are striped,
While a colonial game of the willow,
Lives large, named after an insect (cricket),
Played where grasshoppers jump
Until the blood-thirsty mosquitos arrive.
A nation that slaps a red ball like how
A child swats house flies in Tamil Nadu.
The snow leopard prowls, the yetis plod,
And the mountain goats bleat, while Gods
Reign from the snowy pinnacles
Of the melting Himalayas.

Bleaching cream is a modus operandi here.
They bleach to become a lot fairer,
To market their faces on dating apps.
The ones with TV watch the IPL daily,
The ones without, make love
Under kerosene lamps, while the silence
Is broken periodically by the sound
Of a slow mail train that goes for 2 whole days,
East to west, north to south,
And a network of railway lines that
Remind a whole country, some lines,
Rarely do navigate to the center,
Nor taper a frugal centimeter.
Hope and impoverishment,
Here in most parts of India,
Live parallel lives!