SUMITRA MISHRA

 

Hello G!!!

 

Hello ji!!!

How are you, ji?

No more!!!

Hi ji, bye ji!!!

No more!

It’s 2G to 3G to 4G to 5G now!!!

 

Now these G’s are buzzing Like busy bees

Swarming the smartphones with overtime live streaming Ji!!

“The faster, the better!”

Is the mantra,

The more the merrier, they always said so ji!

 

We are sending more, receiving more,

Watching more blockbusters, IPL matches,

You Tube videos,

The cyberspace is a magician’s hat

Poring out more and more,

Coloured  rabbits, no more Indigenous,

Could be Korean, Turkish, Japanese, Chinese

No more only BBC or NBC,

5G ejected us from fallow land to the cyberspace ji!!!

 

From reading and writing

To watching and texting

From photoshoots to self shoots,

From narratives to videos

All because of 5G!!!

 

The mobile phone trumpets, “G-whiz!”

We are ahead and arrived!!

 

Ye, we’ve arrived, where?

But where?

What happened to our relationship?

Personal contact with family and friends?

Physical presence at meetings and eating ?

What bullshit ji!!

We can make contact

And interact with the extra-terrestrial G!!!

Hello ji, are you following me, ji,

Me- I am the Hi-fi 5G!!!!

The From photoshoots to self shoots,

From narratives to videos

All because of 5G!!!

 

The mobile phone trumpets, “G-whiz!”

We are ahead and arrived!!

 

Ye, we’ve arrived, where?

But where?

What happened to our relationship?

Personal contact with family and friends?

Physical presence at meetings and eating ?

What bullshit ji!!

We can make contact

And interact with the extra-terrestrial G!!!

Hello ji, Are you following me, ji,

Me- I am the Hi-fi 5G!!!!

 

Longing For Rain

 

I was still sleepy,

The world seemed quiet

Covered in a blueness bordered by silver!!!

 

Then came

The early morning sounds:

The mutterings of human voices

Roosters crowing

Someone shouting at a disobedient dog

The whistling of thrushes

My dipping eyelids struggled to open

I could hear and smell the milk foaming out of the pan

The maid seemed busy washing utensils

The gurgling sound of flowing water irritated my nerves!!!

Was I longing for the rain or monsoon

To beat the heat and thirst

Of the interminable dry summer?

 

My longing was that of the Earth for the sky,

Woman for man!!!

Where is he?

Plucking flowers in the garden

Or already crouching on the table?

I had to get up and drink

The honey of love and lust

Before the sun starts raging

At my parched porch or my thirsty sou

Longing for the sound of love in the rain.

 

Midas Touch

 

The boon of Midas touch

Turned to a curse too soon

Greed for gold

Deceived the King Midas

Kept him starved

Turned his daughter to a lifeless statue

Yet we are all prey to the lure

Of the rare metal

Barren though it is,

It’s the most prized possession

The most smuggled metal,

But why?

What’s so alluring about gold?

The yellow glaze?

We can paint or decorate any metal with the yellow colour,

Is it the economic insecurity?

Is it the blingy ornaments to flash one’s wealth?

Oh King Midas!!!

You got a pair of donkey’s ears

For your greed for gold

Yet we are trapped in the vicious spiral

Diverting our productive resources

Economic anxieties

To the lure of Lucre

A chase less practical

A race less vital

Yet gold assesses us all

Ad absurdum!!!

 

SUMITRA MISHRA

 

Dr SUMITRA MISHRA is a Retired Principal and Professor of English from Bhubaneswar, Odisha! She is a bilingual writer who has published books both in English and Odia! She has to her credit 7 anthologies of English poetry and one book of English short stories published by Authors press, Delhi! The names of her books being Penelope’s Web, Flames of Silence, The Soul of Fire, Still the Stones Sing, The Red Moon, Roses and Bruises, Whispering Shadows & Reminiscence! Dr Mishra has to her credit  7 anthologies of poems, 6 collections of short stories, 3 full pledged plays and 3 books of translation published in Odia, that’s her mother tongue!!!