“No one noticed

When the sparrows left

It was just another

smoggy winter morning

People drove their cars

dropped their children off

At air conditioned schools

Where they learned

Pollution is a bad thing

It was just another

smoggy winter morning

And stuck on flyovers

No one noticed

That they spent more time on roads

Than with family and friends

So the city of traders

Traded its sparrows,

for SUVs

And children’s lungs

for Diwali firecrackers

Pollution was good for business

And as a million bonfires

lit up in Punjab and Haryana

Delhi bought air purifiers,

masks, cough syrup

and tweeted in anger

But it all started

On a smoggy winter morning

When the last sparrow left

No one noticed,

As that ever useful smog

Hid us from our conscience”