Smile

In the seventies, I read in the papers
of tourists visiting India
expressing shock and surprise
at Indians being so different
from what they had imagined

Coming from the first world
they expected people living
in a poor third world country
to be somber, grim, with
worry writ faces....

How is it that so many
on the streets are smiling?
little children having fun
playing happily in the bylanes?

Today, people are a lot richer
aspirational.moving ahead
many still seem to be smiling
but are their smiles
reaching their eyes....?