Sunil Sharma- A Poem

March 8…and, afterwards

They clapped for them

While the fat- balding boss

Gave away fresh roses:

Yes, the long-stemmed

With few thorns remaining

And the gift-wrapped tumblers---

Company’s way of equity and progress!

After few speeches on the Women’s Day

And free cakes and chocolates,

The day was over!

Back to work, girls!

They did---dutifully.

Some, truly relieved, the annual event got over.

Majority females thinking of long suburban commutes

---They are tough and challenging in the over- packed Mumbai locals---

And planning quick dinners

Buying of groceries, return trips

And tomorrow’s breakfasts

For their dependent families,

While punching computers…viciously

With dainty fingers, manicured and red-polished.

(Mumbai-based Sunil Sharma finds surviving the daily sweet poisons of a post-industrial society easy with the aid of poetry. He thinks---wrongly?---that it restores some sanity in a world mad about eating and possessing things by counter posing the spiritual.)