Sunil Sharma is a Mumbai-based Indian writer. Sharma is a widely-published bilingual Indian critic, poet, literary interviewer, editor, translator, essayist and fiction writer. His six short stories and the novel Minotaur were recently prescribed for the undergraduate classes under the Post-colonial Studies, Clayton University, Georgia, USA. He is a recipient of the UK-based Destiny Poets’ inaugural poet of the year award—2012.

Last year/this year

It did not rain last year
In India…and other parts
Of Asia.
The monsoon was meager
Clouds never stayed for long
Like the spurned lovers.
The winter, last year
Then the summer, this year
Were equally erratic and briefly harsh.
Rivers have run dried
Showing their skeletons and ribs
Clogged with urban debris and moss.
Summer breeze is stinging, hot.
Winter last, delayed, did not last
Even a week over the Delhi skies.
Nobody cared then
Or now.
The elite have got homes abroad
And the…