Sandy Splendour

                                          

“Lo”, 
Went an abrupt chorus,
“The lights of Dhaulakuan”.
And I jerked, my stupor shattered
To see the jaundiced eyes
In cold greetings.

And far away lay my forlorn dream:
The majestic grandeur of the abode of kings,
The legend of love,
The lore of loyalty,
Of sizzling chivalry,
Of supreme sacrifice,
All in ruins
In the silence of colossal wreck,
Amid lone level stretches of sand.
The palaces, the lakes,
The temples, the forts,
Silhouette against iridescent stars,
The silver moon shimmering in marbles,
The jingling camels,
The screeching peacocks,
Weird like Arabian Nights!

Amber still reflects
The old glory of Man Singh
In the Chamber of Mirrors.
Ajmer keeps buzzing with pilgrims
In the qawalis of Khwaja Chisti’s Dargah,
In the hymns at Pushkar.
Jaipur celebrates the epic victory,
Still smiling in pink, proud with past,
Hawa Mahal whispering the tales to eternity.

Chittor of Padmini,
Grey with hoary history:
The clashing swords,
The flashing spears,
The storming stallions,
The whimpering elephants,
The daring deaths and jauhars
In its battle-scarred walls, decayed castles,
The Tower of Victory
Glowing in grandeur that was.

And Udaipur, the city of sunrise
Still sizzles and sparkles in the opiate palace
In posts and pinnacles of coloured glasses,
In the placid blues of Pichola.
The Great Pratap goes galloping by
Charging the gallant Chetak,
The dauntless spirit that knew no defeats.

The wonder of Rajasthan,
The serene splendour
Strewn upon its level sands,
The touring romance of the golden desert
Hasten away so soon…
The bus stops.
I look on, sad at heart,
The futile flight of city traffic
Under the riot of sodium rays
Round the crossing of Dhaulakuan.
                 -----------
On return from a ISTM trip to Rajasthan in 1985.




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