Diwan-e-Khas

Everybody is welcome
in this haunted house
Excuse me! Don't go that side
Those windows are cobwebbed
to cover her from the outside world
Yes, you heard it right
Even the slightest voices echo here
Take care to not drop that pin.
This used to be the waiting house
for her, the Nawab's mistress.
It is a disputed mansion now
between the local don
and a distant relative.
The judges keep changing
Fresh ones are searched
and put up like the stave
of Gandhi's statue
every Independence day.
She wears a worn out look now
with dark circles under her eyes.
Her eye lids flap in agony
as thunder strikes at her heart
in the pre-monsoon wind.