I Love You, Vani Vihar

However your memories lacerate my heart,
However your ideology sells in the mart –
Voices of pedagogues shriek from afar
Here in the murkiness of Parija Library
Lost amid books gone stale through years,
Now staring emptily at an empty gallery –
I cannot forget you, my Vani Vihar!

Whatever be your mere looks or essence,
Whatever dear, be your reasons of silence –
Your very jolliness, it seems, exudes nectar,
As I sit here inside the University Canteen
Half drowned in the gossip of parting friends
Listening to the timid lovers’ hushed up din –
I know, you are my life, Vani Vihar!

However the multitude may denounce your name
However through neglect you have lost your fame,
Voices from my heart announce wide and far –
As I lay in repose in your sprawling garden
Admiring the girls now swaying gently homeward,
Ah! what songs surge in me all of a sudden –
That I love you – love you, Vani Vihar!

Note: –

Vani Vihar: – The popular name of the Utkal University Campus at Bhubaneswar (Vani = ‘Word’ as vehicle of knowledge; Vihar = Place of roaming! ! ; Vani Vihar = Where Knowledge Abounds; Abode of the Goddess of Learning)

Parija Library: – The central library of Utkal University, named after Pranakrushna Parija, a renowned academician and botanical scientist)