Nupur writes for a living, but doesn’t call herself a writer yet. She has written short stories and poems, and is convinced there is a novel inside her somewhere. But for now, she is focused on her content marketing job at a communications firm. Nupur is based in Gurgaon and blogs at http://nupurchaturvedi.wordpress.com/

Comment: Gurgaon has been praised and maligned in equal measure over the last decade or so. Contradiction is essential to its character and Nupur got it just right in this poem. The “gilt and guilt” especially, swung it for her!

Gurgaon

The wind brings in sand to scrape my eyes

When I open them again, the dust has settled

Powdered surfaces hiding the beauty that could have been

And then comes the rain

You would think it would wash everything clear

And the greens and oranges and reds would shine through.

But all the rain did was to drown everything in muck

And so, this is my city

Of expectations and disappointments

Gilt and guilt

Colours and desolation

Crowded roads and empty promises.

And yet, this is my city

My identity, my space, my future

So I must nurture this deep-set rot

In the hope that one day there will bloom

Hope, courage, beauty and love

In this, my city.