Project Noon

by Ankur Barua

O my Lord –
Tossed up and down on this vast ocean of humanity
I hold on to your name as the anchor of our stability
O Allah – in my darkness you shine as a mountain of light.

Walking past all the magnificent palaces of the Nizam I gently sigh
In this frantic living may I not forget to die many times before I die
O Allah – in my darkness you shine as a mountain of light.

In the moonlit quarters I am the lion that reads out couplets in Urdu
In the offices of Microsoft I am the nightingale that dreams in Telugu
O Allah – in my darkness you shine as a mountain of light.

Your pearls of wisdom glitter in the heart of Khwaja Banda Nawaz
Whose radiant love connects our local music to the styles of Shiraz
O Allah – in my darkness you shine as a mountain of light.

In the heart of Hindustan this is our beloved Mecca of technology
Where we drink Irani chai and feast every night on the finest biriyani
O Allah – in my darkness you shine as a mountain of light.

In the heat and dust of the labyrinthine bazaar blooms the rose
Thus through subtle signs your mysteries to me do you disclose
O Allah – in my darkness you shine as a mountain of light.

I have set aside the promises I made to Samarkand and Bukhara
My heart is now married to the exquisite delights of Golconda
O Allah – in my darkness you shine as a mountain of light.

Ankur Barua is University Senior Lecturer in Hindu Studies at Cambridge University. He read Theology and Religious Studies at the Faculty of Divinity, Cambridge. His primary research interests are Vedantic Hindu philosophical theology and Indo-Islamic styles of sociality.