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Two Hundred

Well, it's not a 200
scored by Maoists or Jehadis.
That would have just given us
an east target for anger and
a temporary thirst for blood
before we realise painfully
that dinner is yet to be earned.

It could be a Shahrukh 200
- 200 metrosexual minutes
of ghee-shakkar and glycerine
which we buy to escape
into that world of love
and niceness and gemutlichkeit
which is so not ours.

It could be a politician's 200
as he assembles a majority
to grab the CM's chair.
Chi-chi we say in disgust
at all that corruption & horsetrading
even as we plot to rig
the housing-society elections.
Papi pet ka sawal, after all.

It's so much more better
that it was Sachin's 200.
Scored ball by ball
in front of our own eyes
and then humbly acknowledged.
200 runs of honest industry
to line our stomachs with.

We're truly happy that
Sachin scored 200 runs in a match.

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