Early Morning Agra

Another impressionistic dash through an Indian city.  I loved Agra,  so full of life. 


Early Morning Agra

Every street is crammed full of life:
carts stand piled high with chillies, bananas, 
apples, sweets, cauliflowers, 
groups of men squat cooking over open fires,
goats strain against their pavement tethers,
tuk tuks race through traffic jams, horns blaring,
two or three people weave past on each motorbike,
women and children balanced behind the men.

Everyone on the streets are carrying phones
talking, gesticulating, taking photos of us
looking at them through the coach window -
we're as much a curiosity as they are.

Nursery plants are laid out neatly
to make carpets of the pavements
while tinsel garlands hang strung through trees
brightening up a little town of tents 
pitched here and there on a corner
and homes thrown together on pavements.

Monkeys and solitary dogs sit high on walls
spying on packs of dogs gathering to roam
under trees with stripey painted skirts,
while a black bull waits patiently
outside a parade of shops.

Road sweepers with brushwood brooms
sweep up yesterday's rubbish 
in front of billboards celebrating "G20 India 2023",
"dreams are free but education is not,"
and busy shop fronts proclaiming 
"100% pure" and "endless possibilities".


© Copyright 2023. Chris Auger. All Rights Reserved

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