Deepa’s poem dwells on the soul-crushing transformation of a modern corporate metropolis on DifferentTruths.com.

A city for instant gratification
just like an instant coffee
A city that rewards ambition
and punishes sentimentality

A city that never sleeps
Living ways of life so premium
Corporatism minting fast money
Catering to lifestyle inflation

A city metamorphosed so quickly
Once a sleepy suburb
Now a Global Business Hub
Once an expansive farmland
Now Corporate Glass Grand
The transformation a bit slick

Flattering malls as social structures
Brisk emerging work-play culture
City built for cars, not cycles.
Traffic standstills and congestion
Mar the speed infrastructure

The majority is artificial and pretentious
The city is losing peace and emotions.
Waterlogging and power snarls are rampant.
Thriving on the expat population
Generational heritage is absent.

A city lifeless in many ways
Relationships crumbling
Home systems collapsing
Ethos and customs rusting

All rubble on the streets
Uncovered, uncared for,
Unacknowledged
With eerie quietness

Time is not far when
The impermanence of it dawns.
and it would be sensed such
this city by any other name would
remain the city with no soul.

Picture design by Anumita Roy

Deepa Srivastava

Deepa Srivastava is a freelance writer and poet whose work has appeared in national and international journals and anthologies, with several pieces winning awards. A familiar presence at literary events, she draws inspiration from travel, cultures and lived experience. After a 33-year career with the Government of India, retiring as Executive Director, she began as the founding Chief Editor of an in-house newsletter and continues to write with the same quiet discipline.