A house goes up
A house goes down
A house goes up
A house goes down
There is nothing you can do
To take away my memories
I remember Arun and Tarun
And their big fat and long train
That their engineer dad got them
From the U S of A
I remember they had an elder sister, Sangeeta
And she was much more grown up than all of us
She was an elder sister and I don’t recall her ever
Sitting around the train
From the U S of A
A house goes up
A house goes down
A house goes up
A house goes down
There is nothing you can do
To take away my memories
I remember the Land Lord
Dutta uncle on the first floor
And his morning sneezes
That carried with the wind
To my ears
Or did they carry the wind?
It was like he was always sitting there
On that first floor
I don’t recall ever hearing him
Apart from his sneezes
But he was a good man, I know that
A house goes up
A house goes down
A house goes up
A house goes down
There is nothing you can do
To take away my memories
And what can I say about Didi?
Dutta uncle’s wife
She was an even better woman
Than he was a good man
As I stood behind my wife
Who stood in front of the sink
We saw her stand there
She was alone, she seemed so alone
And I often thought that all this will be gone
And it is, it is
A house goes up
A house goes down
A house goes up
A house goes down
There is nothing you can do
To take away my memories
And Didi played with vermilion
And wished the married women just that
And she spoke in a language that was hurried and chewy
That seemed like English, Hindi and Bong all at once
She had been stabbed on the mound in broad day light
She was fragile and fearless
She was a little woman but she seems so much bigger
In my mind’s eye
A house goes up
A house goes down
A house goes up
A house goes down
There is nothing you can do
To take away my memories
And there was Kartik and still is
Who was so much littler when I met him
When we sparred with our table tennis bats
When we smoked in that cave for a room
When we heard Cohen and Beethoven
When we heard so much of Straits and him singing
When we were friends and brothers
And Kartik dangled from a grill
And soon he wasn’t that little kid anymore
A house goes up
A house goes down
A house goes up
A house goes down
There is nothing you can do
To take away my memories
And Kartik’s Dad had a big deep voice
It’s the kind of voice you associate with the past
And men with big deep voices
And he was an advertising consultant
And seemed to know a great deal about
A great many things
And he had a business associate
Who was crazy about the 60s and Winwood
And the Low spark of high heeled boys
What a name, what a name that was
And I swear I’d never seen so much cool
Music at the same place all at once
A house goes up
A house goes down
A house goes up
A house goes down
There is nothing you can do
To take away my memories
And Kartik’s sisters, loud and cuddly
Who crooned out Karteeeek
Maybe that’s how sisters are meant to be
I had no clue, I had no sisters
And one of them had a worn out pair
Of ballet shoes
How cool is that?
A house goes up
A house goes down
A house goes up
A house goes down
There is nothing you can do
To take away my memories
(In memory of K 33A Hauz Khas Enclave and its people)
(In memory of K 33A Hauz Khas Enclave and its people)
