Namma Naadu Karnataka

I wrote this poem for a poetry competition in our company on the occasion of Karnataka Rajyotsava (state formation day) celebration. The topic for the poem was "Namma Naadu Karnataka" which means "Our land Karnataka". The poem is written from the perspective of an outsider who has come to Bengaluru merely to earn a livelihood and doesn't feel a sense of belonging. Hope it makes sense.

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.