Blind Country Blind Times

And beside them swaying their waists
A fistful of arse, leg
The cries of wanton dance and song
As the Bangla band plays on.

What boys want they want it right now---
Tingly booze, car with AC,
A heavy-weight credit card
A woman hot off the stove.

No matter how much they change 'C P' to 'K P’
'Calcutta' to 'Kolkata’
Ill-luck dogs the forehead
Of the clerk from Bibadi Bagh,
And wingless independence
Hangs from a rope in memory's courtyard,
Blind country blind times
Favicol-sniffed eyes
No matter how much Premen Mitra screams---
'Joy joy joy'
There are tigers on the land and crocs in the river
So tell me, where do I go?

Khademul Islam is literary editor, The Daily Star.