Waheeda Look-Alike

It was year nineteen sixty-two Magic girl Waheeda Of the tinsel town of Bombay Had young reverberating hearts Captured in her spell of charms The haunting melody “A lamp burnt somewhere Somewhere a heart” Flowed everywhere in the air Monsoon wet Filled with mist I was just into college When her look-alike arrived In our midst Same hairdo, veiled Yet its front-line deliberately unveiled To let a wisp of lock droop on a wide forehead Eyes naughty, lovably cocky Nose chiseled, sharp countenance A total clone That had me fallen Head over heels In a well of deep infatuation And burning adoration “A lamp burnt somewhere Somewhere a heart” I stood transfixed As she passed In and out of the college gate Head bent, yet with a budding smile That said she knew Everything happening around Soon it became a ritual For me to wait at the gate Motionless like a pillar To see her pass by Day after day Without respite So much so that I became a part Of the pompous gate No one could any more Tell me apart from it She knew my presence I was doubtless How could my dogged devotion Miss her attention? ! Yet never I could muster Courage enough To unbecome the pillar And utter my heart My silent worship Consumed half a decade Rains came, seasons changed And every day she passed by With that same budding smile Watched by me, the worshipful pile And on the last day She looked directly into my eyes Then bent her head again Cupping her mouth To suppress a laugh And lo! I found her drop A piece of paper on her path As I ran with the winds To capture the note I saw her vanish from sight In a darting haste across the street That was the last I ever saw of her Perhaps, she got into wedded life Hid in a burqa, mothered several kids Sprayed attar day and night Humming to motionless pillars in life “A lamp burnt somewhere Somewhere a heart” And don’t you want to know What her final note had said? “Be bold, ye stupid, adieu! ” Me the eternal pile placed at a gate