By Alok Joshi
Few months of my homecoming to Doon
May seem a bit too soon
To sense the change in the city
Where I had lived
Over three decades back.
But when I ponder
It makes me wonder
Should I feel bad
Just accept and not be sad!
The landscape has changed…
More houses, less homes
More roads, less trees
More cars, less bicycles
More blaring horns, less silence.
People too have changed…
More “I, Me, Myself”
More phone calls, less personal meets
More connections, less relationships
More convenience, less happiness
The young struggle for more money
The old are lonely as they rest
Waiting endlessly in vacant houses
For their children to return to their nest.
I hung up my boots
To return to my roots
Hoping to be near
My old friends and relatives dear
But some are too old
Others are too cold.
Yet a handful of people
Showered their kindness
And came to my rescue
Good people, whom I never knew.
Life must go on, I too must move on
Without complaints and grudges
Be happy with what and who I have
There is no reason to despair
At least I can breathe fresh air
Which has become rare
Focus on all that is good
There is buzz and life everywhere
And I can choose to be happy
Without being a multimillionaire.
(ALOK JOSHI, a Gold Medalist in English Literature and Linguistics and an MBA from Europe has vast management experience across countries. He is a freelance writer, editor and author of “12 Sweet and Sour Years in China- True stories of an Indian and the recently published novel “Three and a half Sweethearts”)
