Amidst dusty files of ignorant rusted wisdom,
One more day gracelessly came to its punishing end.
Day after day hundreds of files stare at me
As the babu mercilessly piles it on my table.
Each hour brings its own files and filemasters
Awaiting the spilling of my ink on these paper monsters.

Decisions on decisions on purchases and penalties
Flows through my system all through the day,
Tens of faceless babus flit in and out
Paying their fake salaams and counterfeit courtesies
Vainly hoping to make a complete fool of me.
Hour after hour, I warm the bureaucratic staid chair
Even as pointless meetings meanders to an agonising end.

My eyes strain to see just one paper of joy
But the day’s dak yet again was not that kind;
Amidst a hundred cheerless calls,
My heart aches to receive just that one long ring,
But, alas its not to be;
In muted silence, one by one, the bulky files gets butchered
Even as my soul yearns for that one letter
And that one long ring
That would make my heart and soul sing and dance,
But, yet again, its not to be.