Choksi (Vigilance)

The Bank was observing choksi, so
Knowing when the Chowkidar
Would turn his back,
A wink went to good friend, Nirav,
Who walked in to pick up the sack.
His subsequent stop was Davos where
Among the most chosen few
He was seen next to you know who.
A further wink from vigilant eye
Turned Nirav from citizen to NRI.
Mehul bhai, uncle, was smarter still,
Being first-named in House Number
One even as he had both hands
In the so obliging till.

The man who famously alerted
The Republic to a one lakh, seventy
Thousand crore scam—which was not—
Seems absconding more than the looters,
Although in charge of banking matters.
The FM and the PM have not been
Heard; they are busy as you might
Guess in ridding the country of the Congress.

The hoi polloi may be excused for
Wondering, all things considered, had
Not the blundering Congress but
The Vikas-wielding “nationalists”
Ruled India for sixty years, what
Might have been the state of affairs—
Speculation indeed too deep for tears.

Badri Raina