What is Karnataka ?
Karnataka is Bangalore,
its glittering malls,
fashionable girls and expensive shops,
its I.T parks,
full of ambitious men and women
with money they don't know where to spend.
its age old colonies,
where old couples walk in the parks
and learn to send e-mails to sons abroad.
its many sprawling gardens,
which have been reduced to specks
in the name of development.
its majestic Vidhana Soudha,
in the news for all wrong reasons.
its numerous eateries,
which dot the city
never leaving me hungry.
its jammed roads,
ever choked with increasing traffic
crying out for help.
its new express-ways,
trying to connect an ever growing city.
Wait, What is Karnataka to you ?
To me ?
Well, it is just a place where I came to work.
Then where is your home ?
My home is where I grew up.
My home is where my friends are.
My home is where I sleep peacefully every night.
My home is where I am welcome.
My home is where my mother awaits me.
Have not you grown eating at all the eateries?
I have.
Do you not have friends in all the I.T parks?
I do.
Have you not slept peacefully in the age old colonies?
I have.
Well, I say, you are ever welcome here,
in my land,
The land of Karnataka.
I am also you mother.
And I too wait for you,
to embrace me
and call me your home.
