Rourkela Poem by Tushar DasPattanayak

With no haste, not at all deep anxiety,
Reddish sun rises from backside of hill-top,
Serenity prevails.
Jackals howl all along the ridge,
Tickle ears.
Rourkela caresses a sense of fervour of tranquil dawn,
With ting-tong peal of bicycles of college disciples and hurly-burly of offspring in buses going to kindergartens,
Steel city offices yawn.
Temple gongs devise devotion.
Concrete Ring road cut off
New-old pertinence,
Neon lights put off
men & women's darkest stupefaction.
Newspaper headlines glean murky shrouded mysteries,
Steadily, steel city steals idyllic morning by swarming vehicles.
A herd of cows opens and shuts their mouth
beneath konark cinema poster,
Country's juvenile throng erect beside betel shop
And gaze through the industrial province.
The captivating vignette of RSP mesmerizes
while getting on towards station.
The auto halts before teeming streets of MAX & NOTTEE,
The swirling wheels of auto rickshaws portray assiduous people and busy city.
A clump of beggars come out from nowhere and meander,
On the spur of the moment, the jam-packed streets metamorphose into congested lane.
The overseas trippers' camera capture the aesthetic arête of ‘VAISHNODEVI' and pious ‘VEDAVYAS' as well as artistic ‘HANUMAAN VATIKA'.
With the clock ticks faster,
RKL reddens again with sun going down.
The parched leaves of roadside trees peer into the sky,
The homecoming people from office trample the and go away,
The lugubrious leaves stalk and entreat,
Could you take us away? But to no avail.
With the twilight dwindles, steel city sparkles from station to ISPAT market.
With the appearance of gorgeous girls, hoydens and women, these places become jovial,
RKL feels the savour of festivity.
The unseen NITIANS in day light, stroll, roam & ride everywhere,
With the tall talk & chit-chat,
They behave sometimes as riff-raffs or gentlefolks.
The cafes and brasseries fetch in hefty banknotes owing to NITIANS,
And no better utopia than weeny ‘JAM' for charming couples.
After 11 o' clock, the steel city transmogrifies into solitary dale,
With the moonlight and twinkly stars, RKL evanesces as if
It's not a ONLY city rather a splendid nocturnal Shangri-La of cloistered ravines.