Poets United Midweek Motif ~ Mother Tongue
Going to UK Nottingham to be exact
was a dream come true really, in fact
excited to see Robin Hoods Forest n
Castle and birthplace of DH Lawrence
soon landed on historical Heathrow
expecting to see all English but was
utterly surprised to see, many Chinese
no sounds of English but just Cantonese
well, lets wait and see...said Churchill...
waiting for passport I saw a blue turban
uniformed figure coming walking smartly,
suddenly he spoke
'Kaur e, Kaure ,aj gaddi naiyun aani'
Oh he was speaking pure Punjabi''
Oh am I really in England's London? I
was beginning to have some doubts, I
looked around, late at night the lounge
was empty, this being the last flight,
'Chalo chalo' '(walk) someone said 'Oh
who is this speaking Urdu... now I was
sure I was on the wrong plane which had
landed somewhere in the Subcontinent plain
'Come up 'aage aao' I heard, glad to have
the green book back, slung one on shoulder
pulling the other bag, I walked judging the
exit' all are going...this must be it'
Oh what a relief to see sonny who
smiled happily 'looks weak and skinny'
I thought but he smiled and smiled
his joy expressed without words, any...
Oh Salam how are you ...'kab se kharra
hun..waiting so long...well..it was the wait
the medical check..the Punjabi Chinese
the Indians,from many a land...
I thought I was not really in England...
Oh Mom wait and see...you will hear
Punjabi speak Punjabi and Kashmiri
Paharri ...(.O wither my MA in ELT? )
Mom you will see the unity in diversity'
and so it was a real reality
I was in London ...driving Centrally
street lamps glowed gracefully, flashes
of Sherlock Holmes came intermittently
I smiled thankfully for I knew I
could speak Urdu Punjabi Pahaarri
and English I grew up with, I loved,
I found it was now 'Mother Tongue'
of All the Family....
Oh to be in England ..now that Spring is here
''wait and see, just wait....