Morning Sounds of an Indian Neighbourhood

First, the religions awaken
                         Crooning, droning
Monsters we've made reminding us
                         They can un-make us
Then a lull as lazybones stir
                          Never to see dawn
Some birds reach an unremarked epiphany
                          Of territorial emphasis
The doors open for students
                         And wage-earners
The roads are swept by a tide of steel
                         That will last for hours
And now as macho engineers and MBAs
                         Are commuting
And simpering socialites slumber
                          Coiled in unguents
Now as their whelps drift sullen
                           To their mis-education
Sometimes you can hear a single voice
                            Humming a jingle

A street away the slum has already
                            Shuddered and disgorged
Its people into the imperious dawn of that
                            Other neighbourhood