S.A.Prabhakar

Moments

2012-02-13T07:00:00.000-08:00

Before the moment disappears
The words somehow appear
To string the moon, to the tree,
To the kite, to something breaking free,
Before the feet turn away
The eyes have spoken and the smiles stay
On the lips like a dessert flavour
That can be savoured even light years after
Before the lamp is lit without murmur
Yet again before the destroyer
Travelling from one sleepless city to another
Yesterday's prayers curl up without answer.

What cannot be said

2012-02-11T06:47:00.000-08:00

I do not want to hear
Only the bad news from you
Give me also the good tidings
Or do not call at all
You do not know how rough
I've had it so far
Do not give me more thorns
To carry to a prickly bed
You know how to
Take care of happiness yourself
I was not told when you married,
Built a house, became a father
Kept flying around the world
There was no word
When I would have loved
Like the blind king
To have seen all those places
Through your eyes
When you are spurned,
Shown the door
And lie crying on the floor
The lights not switched on
Because you do not want to catch
Your own face in the mirror
Then you think of me
Like a deity you hardly visit.

Telling it straight

2012-02-10T10:08:00.000-08:00

Everyone likes me here
They call me the most
Beautiful girl
They've seen
In a long time
With the lightest complexion
In all eight blocks
Of our apartment complex;
They cannot believe
I am not a vegetarian;
They say my husband
Is lucky to get
A bride like me
Though he is dark-skinned,
Bony and slightly bald;
I told him
That we only wanted
A good man like him
A government servant
Without any vices
Though we had offers
Of alliances from doctors,
Engineers, even milk barons;
He believed every word of it
And was so pleased
That he wanted to buy
A silk sari for you
Mother, I had a hard time
Dissuading him from doing that
And offending our in-laws;
He seems to be fond
Of his sister and parents
I hope to wean him soon.

Rehearsal

2012-02-07T08:00:00.000-08:00

Everywhere I went I saw
People practising to praise
Learning to genuflect
Fall at feet
Asking teachers
If the head was held
Sufficiently respectfully
If the back was bent
At the right incline
Or must go lower;
If the eyes looked right
Gazing at a spot
Between their toes
Some were mildly slapping themselves
As they would before a deity
Being shown the sacred flame
Others were doing sit-ups
Arms crossed, holding their ears,
There were those kneeling down
Like children under punishment
Hands entwined in supplication
Some were crying on order
While others were grinning
Even as they were garroted
Where do I start, I asked the master
Jotting down words for a new banner
As a poet read out rhymes from a lexicon

Prayer

2012-02-05T21:58:00.000-08:00

All I ask, he said
Is to be spared
The shame of having
To beg for food again
The pain of leaving
A house that I have
Fallen in love with
The loss of friends
With whom I can
Walk back
Asking Time to stand by
All I ask, he said
Is to be able
To put my feet up
All my chores done
The prince's dusk song
Playing in the ear
With no longing
But to disappear

Facebook

2012-02-03T23:50:00.000-08:00

I returned unhappy
From every visit
To the hairdresser
The elder cousin
Who accompanied me once
Gave his own instructions
Ignoring my protests
Then laughed all the way home
Looking at my near-tonsured head
Even when going unaccompanied
And giving my own order
The result was the same
The face staring back after
From the mirror
Looked worse than before
Now as the crown thins
And cannot be hid anymore
It is the young Facebook face
You want to keep looking at
And want to carry everywhere

Truth

2012-02-02T06:25:00.000-08:00

When you are
Willing to die
Hearing the kuyil's
Ethereal call
Do you think
Of the nest
It stole
The brood it killed?
When you listen entranced
To the song
Fragrant with jasmine,
Rain and wet bark
Do you recall the way
The composer barks
At his orchestra
And insults the musicians
Playing the wrong note?
When the revered seer
Speaks of the oneness of the soul
Can you forget his remark
Discriminating between head and feet?

Worship

2012-01-31T05:48:00.000-08:00

In this desert city
So far away from home
To hear native words
Spoken on the street
Was like stumbling
Upon an oasis
After wading through
Hours of shimmering sands;
Never a dark skin was lovelier
White uneven teeth
Exhibited in an uninhibited grin
More welcome than a moon
The telltale accent
The fierce moustache
Brought before me
For a moment
Our folk deity
Still guarding the peepal tree
I greeted the beautiful stranger
With unabashed tears.

Heaven

2012-01-29T10:24:00.000-08:00

You have to take off your glasses
If you want to cut your hair
Remove ornaments off your neck
To take an x-ray
Remove your shirt
To enter some temples
Shed yesterday's leaves
For tomorrow's spring
Spurn wayside carnivals
To reach the destination
What do you leave behind
To enter heaven?

Fear

2012-01-26T10:23:00.000-08:00

It was a night
You did not want to be night,
No light was put out
Other rooms were kept out,
As if they hid someone
Waiting to pounce upon one,
The bedroom door remained shut
With wary eyes trained on it, but
Something still stood on the other side
In no hurry at all, willing to bide,
The sacred ash on the forehead
Did little to lessen the dread
Of the dark one
Fond of the one-on-one,
It was puberty time all over again
Bar the broom, pestle and pain.

Freedom

2012-01-25T11:38:00.000-08:00

It was when one day
Was like any other
The sun rising leisurely
And waiting quietly
At the tea shop
For the milk to boil
The feet had not learned to hurry
As there was no need to
All places to go
Were within walking distance
The fastest vehicle
On the road
Was the bicycle
Nothing was expected of you
There was no one dinning it in
Day in and day out
To reach for the stars
Waving a list of the lunatics
Who made it big
There was no desire yet
Making a thorn of the pillow
And waking you before the east whitened.

Stereotypes

2012-01-24T00:41:00.000-08:00

Someone is buried under
All that debris
Of hate words
The skin colour
Is repulsive
The height is not right
The pallu hangs
Down the wrong shoulder
The language is full
Of reprehensible loans
Besides, being spoken
Through the nose
One of us
Is equal
To ten of them
They cannot have enough of gods
Who are as frail as any of them
And constantly at war ---
Yet when they cry
Someone rises to the surface
No different from us.

Moon

2012-01-21T06:50:00.000-08:00

I don't want to hear
This song of yesteryear
Mourning one who was so dear
Before she took away his eyes
Leaving behind a long night of lies
The orb then had not been trodded on
It was known only to wax, wane and be gone
For a while, before coming back for the flowers
And the tidings of the sleepless lovers
Now to hear the song again
With wrinkles, grey hair and pain
Is like looking at the pock-marked face
They brought back from space.

Personal

2012-01-16T07:05:00.000-08:00

"There is nothing wrong
With the economy
People are killing themselves
More for personal reasons
Like not being employable
Though jobs are going abegging
All over the place;
There are also those
Who willingly starve to death
Not because they have to go hungry
But because they want
To go to heaven early
Believing the true purpose of existence
Is to reach the lotus feet of god
There are some who take their lives
Unwilling to take treatment for chronic ailments
Hoping to be cured by divine power
And depressed that they have been not
Not as some would have us believe
That they were driven to it
By poverty, debt and galloping prices"

Stranger

2012-01-10T10:21:00.000-08:00

Like a relative
Who calls up after ages
And teases you
In different languages
Expecting you to recognise him
He entered uninvited
Into my dream
Objecting to being
Called a stranger...
Everyone has met me
Sometime or the other
Some more than the others ---
You too ceased to exist
Several times before;
I was there
As you left your house
You grew up in, after marriage,
When your brother
Asked you not to
Drop in so frquently
For lunch at his house
Though you were pregnant
At the time
And wanted to savour
Your mother's dishes,
I stood before you
When the sister-in-law
Did not invite you
For the house-warming
Because you did not have
A home of your own ---
I was the one
Who was there
In all those
Different moments
Of displacement
Preparing you for when
There will be no one.

A terrible fire

2012-01-08T07:57:00.000-08:00

The girl next door
Couldn't stand hunger,
She howled for food,
When her mother
Beat her up
All the time shouting
"There's nothing to eat
Wait till father comes home."
I signalled her
To come over
She fell upon the rice
We served, taking generous helpings
Wolfing everything down,
Soon she was crying,
Whether from the joy
Of dousing the terrible fire
Or the shame of being fed
By a neighbour
I could not tell

A road song

2012-01-04T05:53:00.001-08:00

I do not know
What road I want now
The one that takes me away
Or the one going back
Though it's no more
The same, either way
As going away is no going away
Or going back is no going back
Going back every time
Tells me how farther away
I have travelled
Seeing the toddlers have grown
Into total strangers
They blink when introduced,
A blood relation
I am now just a name
A designation,
A distant city,
Not knowing what road
I want now
The one going away
To where I am known and not known
Or the one going back
To where I cannot go back
Or the one taking me
To the stranger
Everyone will have to meet.

Time

2012-01-02T11:58:00.000-08:00

There's nowhere to run
I know what has marked
The hair with white
Redrawn the face
Like a caricaturist,
The footsteps sound nearer
The stranger's hands
Are passing closer
As they grope for the quarry,
The old songs sound dearer
Because they are younger
Belonging to the days
Of the early mouche
The stirrings of love
The first triumphs
With endless possibilities
When anything could have been,
Not like today
When a tomorrow
Not unlike yesterday
Sits sheepishly with you,
As the stranger
Knocks on the next door

Wrong turn

2011-12-31T11:31:00.000-08:00

The words you spilled
Litter the floor
Like storm-blown leaves
The room still
Reeks of your hate
The baleful eyes
Seem to bore into me
The teeth bared
Like a beast's
Seem ready to spill blood
From a romantic film
I have strayed into a horror movie
Full of bogeys and bugbears
The fire you saw never was
The women never were
Though you found them everywhere
In the closet, under the cot
Next door and in the streets
I keep looking for the denouement
The call for the cut
The sunlight falling on my face
The eyes struggling to open
The legs and arms twitching
To jump out of the scene
Written by febrile hands.

Fire worship

2011-12-29T12:36:00.000-08:00

In the puja room
The lamp is lit
With a prayer,
When it is time
To put out the flame
No one talks
Of dousing it,
The teardrop of fire
Is calmed with a flower,
There is no need now
To carry over
Ash-sweating embers
For next day's meals,
However, yesterday's rage
Is never extinguished
It flares up elsewhere
Flashing in wronged eyes
Which once brought a king down
And torched his iniquitous city

Steps

2011-12-28T11:54:00.000-08:00

Do not count the steps
That have to be climbed
To reach the shrine
Counting will make it harder
The distance covered
Pales before the distance
To be covered
Eyes covertly envy
The feet going down
As the path gets
Steeper and steeper
It's the vision
Of the deity
Seen in the dream
That drives me on
The hand
Holding nothing
Signified something
The shorn heads
Glittering with sandal paste
Returning from the temple
Seem happy to have god
On their side
I do not believe in barter
I do not want gold
All I want is to be told
Nothing matters
Before or after
Here or hereafter

Happiness

2011-12-27T12:07:00.000-08:00

When the water tank is full,
When the LPG refill
Has arrived well before
The cylinder has gone dry,
When the power supply
Does not go off
In the slog overs
Of a cricket match
Going our way,
When the chicken cooks well
Without the cooker sputtering,
When no critical guests
Arrive unannounced,
When the past casts no shadow
And tomorrow looks still rosy,
If every Sunday goes like this
I do not mind being
Put on the rack
All the other six days.

Motivational

2011-12-24T09:13:00.000-08:00

I recalled the speaker's
Clarion call in class:
"It is all in the mind
The man who succeeds
Is usually the one
Who has already
Visualised himself
On the podium
Heard the crowd's roar
Held the trophy
In his hands
Several times
Told himself
It was just
A matter of time
Before dream met reality
That the slips, falls,
The poor finishes
Would only make
The final victory sweeter
Though for himself
It will only be a replay
Of a thrilling climax
Savoured a thousand times"
I want to ask him now
If he has ever been given the pink slip.

Thought

2011-12-24T06:18:00.000-08:00

I cannot retrace my past
Beyond the pink and blue
Inflatable ball
I first woke up to
Someone shouting
"Look at it!'
Telling me what
It is called...
You cannot play
On the stairs
Or the corridor
Disturbing others
Ask your father
To take you
To the park
He is not home
In the evenings?
Then go and watch TV
Play some computer game
Book cricket, carrom
Anything without noise
What kind of tenants
Are we getting these days
They can't control their brats...
We have never been
A great sporting nation
So it is no surprise
We don't get many Olympic medals.

Success

2011-12-23T09:52:00.000-08:00

They told me, when you fail you have to cry
Someone who takes a defeat with a smile
Is not condidered to have the right attitude
As if he did not care one way or the other
That he was somehow to blame for the loss
Not being passionate about winning
Lacking the hunger to put it across the rivals
The notorious absence of the killer instinct
I look around and find many like me
Losing out but weeping, not knowing
They were meant to lose
As the field was only for the few
The others lured by the hope of riches
Fed on dreams they would never realise
At the tail-end of a seasonal river
Yet believing the lie the good life was on its way
Trickling down slowly but surely
A matter of months, a matter of years
At least in the next generation
If not in the next birth
In the meanwhile, keep crying keep trying.

Sun

2011-12-22T00:59:00.000-08:00

I've not seen for long, the sun rise
Like this, before my sleepy eyes
I had almost forgotten
It could be as red or as swollen
Or as fiery, stepping out of the horizon
I almost want to stand like the boy
In the textbook, looking with joy
At the east, arms stretched out
Like one who has no doubt
Which pointed north and south
I still do not know one from the other
To get about here all you need is the right address
Get into the right bus
Be able to tell left from right
Find the nearest landmark
I cannot see places
In terms of the four directions
I do not believe one brings luck
And allows anyone to escape from life
Though I like the west
When the sun at journey's end rests.

Decoy

2011-12-20T08:26:00.000-08:00

What is it I'm panting after?
A spotted deer, a peacock's tail
A secret cure or the holy grail?
Sometimes, there's only laughter
Only eyes that cannot be looked at long
Only a smile that strings one along
A toddler's footprints, unearthly fragrance
Words in a strange tongue, a mere presence
Sometimes a name kept up like a chant
Soon sounds like the rant
Of those who have gone before
But see now neither sea nor shore
Was there anything to hunt at all?
Or was it all meant for somebody's fall?
It's all coming back; a deer full of lies
A false cry from a false prey
The lone guard lured away
And desire coming again in disguise

Death

2011-12-18T07:43:00.000-08:00

It is getting harder and harder
To take leave of people,
Shake hands, perhaps,
For the last time,
Say goodbyes
Turn the back
On a home of yesteryear,
Friends on their last legs,
A town raised in
Fading like a dream
Often the feet refuse to turn away
Like a rejected lover
Tarrying at the door
Hoping to be taken in
And all sins forgiven.

Distance

2011-12-18T01:25:00.000-08:00

The feet grow weary
As the distance grows
Between dream and reality
The peaks grow taller by the day
The more you climb
The farther they are
The queue grows longer
With privileged pilgrims
Joining the stream midway
The shrine is stepping back
The roundabouts are as clogged
As the direct roads
And the city lights
Are still not in sight
The head and feet
Keep moving away
And the envious god
Who will go unworshipped
Is still soaring
And the flower is still falling
The fragrance yet to spread.

Mob

2011-12-17T06:12:00.000-08:00

The faceless mob is near
This land we thought was ours
Begins to slip from beneath us
The words we were born into
Have been held against us
We knew what was coming
When once-friendly eyes stared at us
As if we had grown horns and fangs
And the lies feeding on lies
Soon made monsters of us all
We could no more speak our tongue
Flaunt our god we opened our eyes to
Or wear clothes that showed
Where we came from;
We looked at the mirror,
Hated what we saw
Rued the telltale complexion,
The locks of fate
Wondered which side
Of the night would hide us,
The women and children
Cower in the corner
The ears faintly hear
The dam burst of hate
Heading this way
We are like trees,
We cannot flee
When you try to tear us away,
You'll know how entwined we are
When together we bleed.

Star

2011-12-16T03:09:00.000-08:00

Illuminated paper stars
Dance joyously
Above a few doors,
Heralding a birth
That conquered death,
Just a few nights back
We put oil lamps
Along the steps
Often cupping the flames
Against the wind
Nursing hope
In adversity
Knowing how soon
They will be calmed,
All the while
Praying to be one
With the six-faced son
Of the immeasurable one
And end for ever
The searing dance of desire.

Order

2011-12-13T05:47:00.000-08:00

In my house
Someone has
Assigned a place
For everything
Footwear without exception
Cannot cross the border
Of the shoe rack
There are hooks
On the wall
For bike keys
The teddy bear
Is allowed to wear
The ID cards
Round his neck
Through the night,
The driving licence
Has a box to go into
In the morning
As the clock starts ticking
And the search begins
For things not found
Because one was too tired
To put them back in place
The previous evening
It is the things
That are blamed
For somehow disappearing
As if wanting
To see chaos reigning

Rambo

2011-12-09T06:42:00.000-08:00

You shall not
Call Rambo a dog
He is like a son to us
Next time you visit
Bring him something
Nice to eat
He loves badam halwa,
Ice creams and colas
You shall not shoo him away
When he jumps on you
That's how he shows his affection
You will have to learn
To enjoy his attention
You shall not call on us
In the afternoon
When he snoozes
On Wednesdays
When he has to see the beautician
On the fifth of every month
Between eleven and twelve
When the vet comes for check-up
On Saturday evenings
When we take him for a drive
If you know of a good groom
For our daughter, let us know,
The only condition is that
Rambo will come with her
And he must not grudge his expenses

A queue with a view

2011-12-08T10:02:00.000-08:00

Before you start waiting
Do not ask the others
In the queue
What they are waiting for
Like you they may have made
A virtue of standing still
Joining a line
That does not look like moving
Preferring the one
More serpentine
Than the others
Flowing outdoor
Offering a view of a peepal tree
The frenetic road
And weary feet
Wanting to join
A line that never moves

Blood-stained

2011-12-04T10:17:00.000-08:00

It's the same old story
Being told and told again
The characters
Seem different
Born in different climes
Set in various milieus
Yet saying the same things
In different words
Mostly complaining of life
Of dreams floating
Out of reach
Of smiles disappearing
Before they catch the eye
Of man-made misery
Masquerading as fate
Of death coming early
Like winter's night
Of things
Taking wrong turns
Like a story writing itself
As you watch helplessly,
When the tale
Is told and without lies
You know it's
The same story everywhere
Priests terming truth heresy
And rewriting stories
In people's blood

Ghost

2011-11-30T11:45:00.000-08:00

I feel like a ghost
If I could call it that
Looking with longing
At a house
I have lived in for years
And can no more enter
The eyes have to be
Plucked away
As the bus rolls past
The street which used
To be mine, though
Overflowing with sewerage
Every monsoon, and erupting
Into murderous rage
At the hint of a slight;
It is strange looking in at
Something looked out from,
Faces known but not known
Known to rarely smile
Seen more often frowning
Or barking into phones,
It was the drought
That briefly brought
Together the neighbours
Keeping a vigil
For nocturnal tankers
And sounding alerts
When the hand pump
Yielded water,
When the heavens opened up
And the reservoirs brimmed over
We went back
To our unseeing ways
Spinning away
In our desolate orbits,
It is difficult
Not to enter the old address
When filling out forms
Though the pen
Pauses as always
At the permanent address column
Wondering if anyone ever had one.

Rooftop prayers

2011-11-25T05:56:00.000-08:00

I keep waiting
For the buzzer
That never rings,
For the call
That never comes,
For the footsteps
Climbing the two floors
To my door,
Instead a patter
Of feet goes past
On to the rooftop
To pray to the one
Betrayed, tortured
Crucified, forsaken
And left to die

Pigeon

2011-11-22T10:14:00.000-08:00

After a long time
The sun looks
Into my house again
Through the window facing east
Reminding me of a birth
That can only follow death,
There is more sky to look at
With no tall buildings
Standing in the way,
Clouds seem to pass
Just outside the open sitout
More stars seem to be out
This night just to see me move in
I'm startled by the strange groaning
Coming from the sun shade,
I find it is only a pigeon
Complaining of a storm coming.

Cup and saucer

2011-11-21T10:04:00.000-08:00

This stainless steel
Cup and saucer
Once a novelty
Is older than me
It has travelled
Thousands of kilometres
Seen as many houses
As we have lived in
Offered tea
Ice cream
Sweets and savouries
To countless guests
Who have now bowed out
As I look at the survivor
Of our wanderings
Still sitting in our kitchen
I want to ask
If it will survive us too.

Unfulfilled

2011-11-20T06:25:00.000-08:00

In a dream
Within a dream
Ghosts chase
Haunting faces
Those who barely
Touch them
Feel triumphant
For a while
Soon find more
Tantalising ones
To run after
Those thwarted
Sit down and weep
Conduct ritual sacrifices
Undertake rigorous vows
Say stone-melting prayers
Not knowing what is wanted
Is not what is wanted
For when the dream ends
There is no waking to.

A new house

2011-11-19T07:54:00.000-08:00

We're strangers still
The feet remember
Only the old place
Out of habit
They go and stand
Before a blank wall
Where a mirror used to be
In the other house
The hands reach out for things
That are not there
Search for switches
At old corners
The eyes keep looking
For the abandoned plants
Wonder who's watering them now
Miss the coconut palm
Outside the balcony
Where the night always
Came to sit with you
Like a confidant
The smell of paint
Hangs in the air
Like a dead man's scent

Relative

2011-11-16T09:53:00.000-08:00

As spacious as
An empty house
As crowded as
An agitated mind
As lovely as
A happy flower
As ugly as
An unhappy moon
As wide as
A city road
In the early hours
As cramped as
A journalist's notes
On the run
As generous as
A politician
With public money
As miserly as
A lover with her kisses
As real as
A wish fulfilment dream
As unreal as sudden death
As desirable as death
When the listener is the song.

Mother's father

2011-11-07T13:48:00.000-08:00

My mother's father
Did not leave
A photo
Or a letter,
Or a diary behind
For the daughter to remember him by
When he died suddenly
She has only vague memories of him
When we visit her hometown
She walks through places
Known to be his haunts
Sits on the river bank
Gazing at the still waters
As if they will reveal his face
She points at a huge house they once owned
And even as she is saying
"We lived here" she breaks down
Drawing strange looks from passersby
When I see how maternal grandpas
Dote on their grandchildren
I throw a silent question
Into the air now getting to be cold
Why he died before I came into being
And my father even after

Realtor

2011-11-06T12:23:00.000-08:00

Distances do not deter him
Places as far away as they can be
If they have famous landmarks
Are always near his piece of real estate
All he has to add is 'just' km from there
He is a visionary,
Where eyes can spot only open spaces
Stretching into the horizon
He sees hospitals, schools, even mini airports
From where you can catch
The next plane to office
He evokes the fear of the future
When those who own land
Will be the lords
And those who do not
Will go to bed with regret
For not knowing
That distances are as relative
As relatives or friends
Who keep receding
That commuting is not to be complained of
When life itself is more a going away from
And less a coming back to.

Devotee

2011-11-06T01:46:00.000-07:00

Down the office corridor
Facing a passage
Intersecting another
Hangs the image
Of the elephant god
Wearing different flowers
On different days
And an inscrutable smile
Always I have something to say to him
On a bad day I put him down
"What are you there for?"
When I am happy
I give him a pat
"You are doing well!"
Just like me he's more often
Pilloried than praised

Reality

2011-11-04T13:22:00.000-07:00

My reality is not yours
I prefer the night
Of the cinema hall
Where when the lights go off
My utopia emerges;
There poverty doesn't matter
Lack of college education
Is not a disqualification,
My hero wears
Clothes I can only dream of
Dances duets with the rich heroine
In faraway lands
I can never hope to visit,
Single-handedly takes on tormentors
Who do not know
He is immune to bombs,
Bullets, hammers, iron rods,
Even imported hoodlums,
And, finally, when he is done
Cleansing the town
I am ready for your reality

A familiar face

2011-11-04T11:57:00.000-07:00

Often, someone looks at me
As if we know each other,
From the bus, train windows,
The face flowers,
Like at a remembered pleasure
A smile suddenly alights
On the lips,
The eyes glow
Like a friend's
Finding another
Given up for lost,
Before the past says
It is someone else,
And the face is washed away
With the other strangers
In the flood as implacable as death.

Film scenes

2011-10-27T11:50:00.000-07:00

For a three-year-old
She told film stories fairly well
Without leaving out any scenes
The salacious ones
She remembered in detail
Especially the famous
Bathroom sequences
Where the hero reveals himself
To the heroine
Making her scream
Or the variation
Where it is the leading lady
Who gets to be seen
Leaving the other so dazed
That the exorcist has to be fetched;
Her descriptions of domestic love scenes
Made male neighbours scatter
As we girls rushed
To silence and distract her ---
The moment she began
My father and mother...
We knew what was coming
Picking her up in my arms
I take her to the terrace
To tell her the children's stories I know

New saree

2011-10-25T15:08:00.000-07:00

With a crest of jasmine
The framed photo
Of her as a child
Stands against the wall
Her favourite sweet dish
She had rarely
Even on festive occasions
Is placed before it
Incense that evokes temples
And prayer time at home
Suddenly smells of death
It is the shop fresh
Synthetic saree
The colour of brinjal flowers
That brings her image
Before my eyes
How fond of clothes she was
And how few she had!
How I want to see her
Wearing this new one
And asking me
with a happy laugh
How she looks in it!

Helpful brother

2011-10-24T09:23:00.000-07:00

The younger brother
Who refuses to get up
To go to college
Till the last moment
Is up early,
Turns very helpful
In the morning rush hour,
Offering to run errands,
Buy vegetables,
Not once complaining
To run back to the shop again
To get some ingredient
Mother as usual forgets,
As a sister
My suspicions
Are aroused,
To test him
I ask him to give me
A lift to the bus-stop
On his bicycle
He readily agrees
After dropping me off
I catch him lingering
Till his eyes light up
On seeing someone in the bus
I am not surprised
When he offers me his services
The next morning too

Nocturnal preacher

2011-10-24T07:50:00.000-07:00

Like someone dressed for the church
He stands on street corners
At bus stops, even before temples
With his right hand raised
Calling upon people to repent
Before the second coming
He warns is imminent
The words rise and fall
Like a seasoned preacher's
Only the incoherence gives him away
Even at night I see him sometimes
In his characteristic pose
Standing under the saffron lamps
With no one around,
Not even the odd tippler
Slowly snaking his way home,
Speaking of his terrible vision
In his garbled style,
With no one to hear him
Ignored even by the street dogs
Who sleep through his call of distress

Somewhere still

2011-10-22T10:51:00.000-07:00

I cannot believe
He will not return
Out of nowhere
Like he used to
With his broad smile
As if he had not been away
For so many years
And there was no need
To explain himself
To friends who knew his ways
He drops into a chair
Sitting quietly for a while
Eyes gleaming with mischief
As he gives his sketchy updates
With long pauses, shakes of head
Arching of eyebrows, shrugs,
"We are separated, I have someone else"
Some more silence, some more smiling
No names, no further details
"I'll come back soon
Give you the full story"
Off he was again,
Leaving no address,
No phone number
Disappearing from the story
Like a dumped character
I still like to think
It was someone else who died.

On death row

2011-10-22T06:28:00.000-07:00

We make it easy for death
There are all kinds
To be plucked at will
Female foetuses,
Malnourished infants
Children in hazardous work
Dream-dead youth
Farmers in the red
Despite a bumper crop
Women who cannot pay dowry
Innocent villagers lured
To borders for fake encounters
People who speak
The wrong language
Worship the wrong god
Tribals sitting on
Rich mineral deposits
Residents close to
Atomic plant sites
And nations with oil
Refusing democracy
Of the kind
That comes with
Depleted uranium
And uninvited forces.

Town comes calling

2011-10-21T13:26:00.000-07:00

In the films
My town appears
Like a child
Which has made up
Its own face
The streets
Which have never
Complained about
My footfalls
And I have never
Found fault with
Despite being dusty
Dirty, noisy and crowded
Greet me with
A knowing smile
On the screen,
My favourite composer
Speaks before
An adoring crowd
In front of my chapel
The camera looks at
The legendary river
Now fallen on bad days
With a lover's eyes
My poetry teacher
With the luxuriant mouche
And ever-smiling eyes
Plays the hero's mentor
A street theatre pioneer
Who rediscovered his roots
Appears as the vettiyan
Raising the protagonist
The town comes calling
In other ways too
in the fellow passenger's dialect
The omnibus name
The hotel signboard
And in the quatrains
Left behind by poets
Who left the king's palace
To meet an old companion

Commercial break

2011-10-19T13:32:00.000-07:00

All look so impossibly white
Even the old have no wrinkles
The young mother
Looks like
The toddler's sister
The roads have no traffic
The houses
Spotlessly clean
There is nothing
That cannot be cured
From headache to fatigue
Nothing that cannot be fixed
Even a job can be landed
With a cream
Love is just a scent
Fluoride is fluorescent
And happiness effervescent

Beautiful

2011-10-18T11:12:00.000-07:00

As beautiful as
The tears
Of a happy man,
A friend
Who has not
Forgotten the past,
A letter bearing
Such kind words
That it is treasured
Like the scriptures,
Laughter when
Everything seems lost
And lifts everyone's spirits,
As a hen taking on a kite
In an unequal fight
And making the hunter take flight

Terrace

2011-10-15T14:59:00.000-07:00

It is where you can
Stretch a hand
And pluck a mango
If you want,
From the neighbour's tree
Discover where the coconut sprouts
As you watch a palm-top close-up
Find there is so much room and shade
In the netlinga
That looks like a beanpole
From the street
Meet the sky half-way
With a kite,
At night,
When the darkness
Hides you from the world
And the noises subside
The potted sambangi blooms
Smelling of the unseen moon

Meditation

2011-10-14T01:54:00.000-07:00

Will gazing at the wall
Make it go away?
The paint brush pause
Over the child's scrawl?
The mob's daggers be shamed
By folded hands?
The builder skirt
A peepal tree?
The house spare space
For the sparrows?
Pious feet keep away
From temples
Not everyone can enter?
The eyes turn away
From the outstretched hand
Not remembering the starving nights
When one woke up dreaming of food
Lay staring at the wall
Wishing it would go away?

Waiting

2011-10-12T13:31:00.000-07:00

I watched a white cloud
Float silently overhead
Making the sky bluer
Than it was
I kept looking up
For the next
Even letting my bus pass
Did the poet
Who lived here sometime
Stand at this stop
Watching the sky like this
Looking at the mango tree
Across the road
Wanting to see
A parrot or two alight
And suddenly worrying
If he had enough
For the to and fro fare
And for a tea, to spare

The wall

2011-10-09T14:47:00.000-07:00

A wall not seen as a wall
Is the one difficult to pull down
It was the god's bull
That was blamed for being in the way
Blocking the view of the devout outsider
It was hailed as a miracle
That faith could move stone
And not hearts
A wall could even be a veil
Keeping eyes out
Keeping eyes in
Keeping the horse
From thinking of meadows
It often dreams of
Hatred is a wall
That is called a different name
Along national borders
Backed by force multipliers
Ready to scramble
Sometimes the writing
Hides the wall
By turning antonyms
Into synonyms
Calling war, peace
And slavery, freedom,
Putting daggers
In innocent hands
To slay a sleeping man.

Forbidden

2011-10-07T13:18:00.000-07:00

These were books
Read in secret
Then put away
Under piles
Of clothes
In the trunk
And locked away
To be taken out
When no one
Was around
Except the spirit
That seized the flesh
Blew like a storm
Raged like a fever
Did not spare
Even a woman
With shaven head
Wearing ascetic clothes
And hid in the house ---
After she died
I made a bonfire
Of her cache
Just like she desired.

Rebirth

2011-10-07T12:37:00.000-07:00

The woman said
Till I fulfil
All my desires
I want to be born
Again and again
I want to buy
Anything I like
Without caring
For the price
Be welcomed
Wherever I go
With everyone
Milling around
All wanting
To talk to me
Catch my eye
Make me smile
Never left standing
Like a lost child
Not knowing
Where to go,
I want to be reborn
At least till I meet
Someone who will sit with me
As silent as the night
When all else has taken flight.

Missed calls

2011-10-04T15:52:00.000-07:00

Who could it be
Calling at a bad time?
An old friend
Who is missed
And has now found
His way back?
A pesky caller
With something to sell?
Someone who punched
The wrong keys?
A silent sibling
Who has suddenly
Remembered the past?
The service provider
Offering new ringtones?
Some distant relative
In a fund crunch?
Or just the overseas call
Playing a woman's voice
Moaning with pleasure
And wanting to rip off
Your prepaid account?

Now

2011-10-03T15:22:00.000-07:00

I can now look at you
Without any longing
When the eyes
Are no longer fire-flies
The cascading tresses
Having thinned to a fizz
The sinuous walk
Turning mock
The bewitching smile
Gone a while
Both now level
Caricatures of ourselves
Almost where we started
Empty-handed for all the travel
Having seen only the same
Pretending they were not the same
The feet now weary of leaving
Knowing there can never be any leaving.

Just a mile away

2011-10-02T10:09:00.000-07:00

When we missed
The last bus
To the village
Some miles away
We decided
To walk the distance,
It was a January night
Just right for young feet
To fall back on
The first transport
Only one knew the way
To our destination
And exactly how far it was,
We appointed him guide;
The trek extended into the night
As hamlet gave way to hamlet,
And agitated dogs gave chase,
Guards smoking cigars
And looking very much
Like nocturnal gods
Believed to toss
Anyone in their path
Stopped us on the borders
Questioning our wisdom
When the early morning bus
Would have been a better option
The lure of watching
Glow-worms on the velikathan
Drew 'you-city-fools' smiles
The journey seemed endless
Though the friend kept saying
As we passed village
After ill-lit village
"It's just a mile away"
Finally when we flopped
On our host's doorstep
We had walked ten miles;
When things do not go my way
I still say, "it's just a mile away"

Gloaming

2011-10-01T14:24:00.000-07:00

It was as if morning light
Had missed a cue
Returned onstage before
Not after the night
Leaving everyone smiling
Happy to be bathed
In a yellow glow
Like seen in movies
Shot in hill stations
Everyone looked lovelier
Than they were
Like everyone would
When they were happy knowing
They were lovelier
Than they were
Like those who loved
And knew they were loved
And saw the world
In a twilight
That put off the night

Citizen

2011-09-30T07:13:00.000-07:00

The school children
Stood for three hours
By the road
Before her convoy came
By that time
The garland had faded
The spirits flagged
The shoulders drooped
The faces fell
The placards rested
Against the trees
Only the teachers
Were eager
To meet the leader
Once equated
With the state
"There she is!
How fair she looks!
How simple is her saree!
How gracious!"
There was pell-mell
And some students fell
As suddenly everyone
Lost their head
And wanted to
Shake her hand
I kept away
From the fawning crowd
A proud citizen
Not fooled by the skin
Ashamed of this genuflection
To someone I knew
Had taken the country
To the brink of tyranny.

Squirrel

2011-09-29T07:47:00.000-07:00

It is after the room-mates
Have gone to sleep
After dinner, gossip,
Jokes and laughter
That the night turns sick
Voices from home
Despite the distance drift in
Father sitting in the front-yard
Asks mother if I have had my meals
While my sister misses no detail
Of what her classmates
Were up to in college
It is so like
A half-remembered dream
From a different life
That I know
The idyll is slipping away
And soon it can never be
It is like the squirrel
We nurtured like a child
During the storm
And abandoned when we left
The cyclone-prone town.

Freedom

2011-09-28T14:07:00.000-07:00

The girl said
It is coming to school
Without being shadowed
By my maternal uncle
I will have to marry anyway;
Bribing the watchman
To go to an afternoon movie
With friends and boo
The aged hero
Romancing the teenage heroine
Not having to study
Just about enough
To get a pass
To not hurt a male ego
When I know
If I answer all the questions
I can walk into a professional course
Not having to wear this sack cloth in the sun
And moving about as if in fetters.

Doomsday

2011-09-24T12:10:00.000-07:00

Every time our homes
Catch fire or are set ablaze
Even as we sleep
So many die
As they lie dreaming,
The favourite clothes
More looked at
Than worn
Are reduced to rags,
Savings, ration and voter cards,
Proof of our existence
Are swallowed by the flames,
Already on the streets
Barely hidden from eyes
By the thatched walls
We are on the streets yet again
In the dead of night
Even the hovels taken away,
Yet you tell us
Those who have died and died
So many times
And risen from the grave
Again and again
That Doomsday is near.

Past

2011-09-23T15:20:00.000-07:00

What I like about the past
Is that it is done with
It can be put away
Unless someone distorts it
When I look back,
Yesterday's hurts
Hardly hurt
The little triumphs
May never have happened
It is good to see
That the comparisons
That once rankled
Hardly matter anymore
The one who played much better
And was greeted everywhere
Scarcely recalls those days
Now that he hobbles along
With a walking stick
Those who carry
Their possessions
Wherever they go
Can shed neither
Their past nor their present.

Rationalisation

2011-09-22T14:45:00.000-07:00

The dying weep for the dead*
Or more for themselves
Than for the prone figure
Stretched out on the bier
The mourners come near
With a trace of fear
Stunned by a blow
That has fallen nearer
Something that cannot be dismissed
Like the funeral procession
Of a stranger
One meets on the way
The final moments
Are told and retold
There is the veiled criticism too
That he ignored the symptoms
Did not take treatment earlier
That he was somehow to blame
For his own end
It makes the dying
More comfortable
To think that this
Could have been avoided
As they listen
To the chatter of life
The birdsong
And savour the warmth
Of the sunlight
Filtered by the trees.

*Naladiyar

House gazing

2011-09-20T06:42:00.000-07:00

Sundays when the TV movie
Was not worth watching
We went house gazing
Along the avenue roads
Admiring their sheer sprawl
The lawns, the swing, the opulence
Sometimes dividing them among ourselves
Like toys for the taking
The blue painted ones were always mine
I allowed Maalu and Viji to have the others
The elderly inmates sitting in the open
Taking tea and biscuits and chatting and laughing
Often drew derisive remarks
So rich but probably barred from richer fare
That thought made us feel better
Maybe, they got asthma too,
Cannot eat ice cream
Cannot take a walk like this
Without worrying about
Chain-snatchers or kidnappers
Maybe pay a fortune
To maintain such a huge place
Perhaps even unable to sleep
Wondering what the daughter or son is up to
All the negatives we could think of
Made us quite happy
As we went laughing home
To our one-bedroom rented apartments.

Exit, laughing

2011-09-17T14:47:00.000-07:00

After sometime, it seems
Life stops outside the door
Unwilling to step in
Occasionally flitting in and out
In shadows, half-heard, half-understood
Questions thrown at footsteps
Go without answers
Why do you want to know?
Where is she?
(I can't even remember her name)
Has she come back from college?
Is she getting good grades?
What are her future plans?
Why do I want to know?
What are they laughing over?
I could never stop laughing
Once I started
Often I ran out breathless
From the class or movie hall
I cannot remember
What was so funny
That made me reach for the exits
That's how I would like to go
Going ho, ho, ho at a remembered joke.

Unwilling

2011-09-16T15:29:00.000-07:00

I sat up all night
Listening to the rain
Chatter outside my window
It's how it is this month
When it's time for
The monsoon to leave
And it doesn't want to
Like a reluctant guest
Stopping at the door
To reminisce some more;
The clouds huddle after sundown
To cry some more
Like brides
Unwilling to leave
The parental home;
Looking at the bare blue sky
Swept clean of the last wisp,
Like a migratory bird
Which follows the sun
I want to go someplace
Where it rains still.

Moment

2011-09-15T14:16:00.000-07:00

I never want to lose
This moment when
I can breathe normally
Walk briskly
Away from home
Without worrying
About returning safely
Relish the damp breeze
Caress the face
And look with wonder
At the fallen yellow flowers
Make a perfect circle
Around the tree
They had just adorned.

Malice

2011-09-11T14:13:00.000-07:00

She stood outside the window
Listening intently
To the couple quarrel
Trying to gather
The details of the dispute
To trade with her friends
Passing the woman later
On the stairs
She looked for signs
Of violence on her
A black eye
A swollen lip
A bump in the head
Was disappointed
If she couldn't find any;
The misfortunes of others
Made her visibly happy
She made sure everyone
Was kept informed
"They sold their house
So their son could study abroad
Now, he has settled there
Doesn't send any money
Doesn't even speak to them"
I wonder if she has ever cried
For anyone but herself
Watched others shed tears
Without a smile.

Absurd

2011-09-10T11:10:00.000-07:00

Your diary
Of the absurd
Full of details
Of a life
Where nothing happened
Was a mirror
Of all of us
For someone like me
Always living in dread
Of the day
When there was nothing to eat
Not having to go hungry
Was a freedom hankered for,
Everything else was an absurd luxury
All desires were decoys
That vanished in your hands
Leaving you as empty as before
I watched you chase sirens
Come back empty-handed
Then go after others
With the smile of an eternal hunter
Who knows the futility of the chase
But cannot resist the call of the trail.

Mute night

2011-09-09T15:07:00.000-07:00

The sleepless night
When you find that breathing
Is not something
You can take for granted
Is also when you discover
That television channels play
The same songs
The comedy scenes
And the game shows
Over and over again
The song and dance
Without the sound
Is so comical
That it parodies itself
Suddenly the image
Of the next-door child
Raising the volume
Of the idiot box
When her parents quarrel
Pops up like an unwanted ad
You switch off the stale fare
Hug the pillow
And brace for a long haul.

Letters to the dead

2011-09-08T12:28:00.000-07:00

The dead are those
You do not receive
Letters from
In reply to yours
Even once in a while
Leading to suspicion
They are no more
Until you know for sure
You continue to talk about them
As if they are still alive
You laugh about the time
This one slept in the exam hall
After staying up to cram
The previous night
How the other vacated his house
In the dead of night
To dodge his creditors
More and more of them
Exist only in your mind
Brought alive
By a common friend's reminiscence
An old song
Mention of a favourite author
In the morning paper
News about the native place;
Calls to their last known number
Elicit the recorded voice
"Please check the number you have dialled
Or this number does not exist"
Finally it is confirmed
They are really no more
And that your letters
Were actually to the dead.

Monday morning

2011-09-06T12:18:00.000-07:00

All days are
Not the same
For everyone
Unlike Tom and Swami*
The tamed student
Looks forward to
Monday morning
There is no need to play truant
When only praise is due
There is the promise
Of food in school
For those who have
To go hungry at home
The husband
With the suspicious wife
Is keen to be the first
To arrive in office
The lover who wakes
With only one face in mind
Lets bus after bus go,
For over two hours
Before the only one
That matters arrives
The favourite day
Keeps changing too
From the day
When the music show is aired
To the day of the family outing
To the day of the weekly off
When the noise never reaches
The pitch of the inebriated bar.
*Tom Sawyer and Swami (R.K. Narayan's Swami and Friends)

Back

2011-09-03T14:26:00.000-07:00

After a week
Of enforced rest
It was like stepping
Back into life
To just take a walk
Through the streets
Lined with rain
Neem, peepal and asokas
The green had never looked
More rejuvenating
The blue sky lovelier
Or just as lovely as you
Standing against the sea
Your blue saree fluttering
In the evening breeze
And imploring me to capture
The frame, as the waves
Came bounding like hounds let loose!

Sharing meals

2011-09-02T07:02:00.000-07:00

While we talk
My daughter and I
Living on either side of the globe
Often sit for meals
On either side of the screen
She, brings her breakfast
I, my dinner
It is almost like
Being together
In the same room
Only we can't share
The food that looks
So inviting from here
I would like to taste
What she cooks
See if she's got my flair
The little one's mouth is watering
As she taps the screen
Demanding a morsel for herself
Till she grows up
And understands,
The computer screen
Will be her grandmother
Who appears every morning
After her father has gone to work
And talks, plays and laughs
And sometimes inexplicably cries.

Memories

2011-08-28T14:33:00.000-07:00

Memories have to be kept alive
Like fires which cannot be allowed to die
Secret lore which cannot be written down
Books that can be no more read
But have to be passed on
Hoping they would lighten some dark moments ---
Did I tell you
That when you were young
You pitied the ceaseless waves
And asked if their feet would ever ache
And who would play with them at night
After we had all gone,
I pointed to the moon and stars
And the lighthouse beacon
That would give the sea company ---
Before I forget I have to hand all such nuggets to you
So that you can always think well of yourself
Remember who all we owe such kindnesses
And return them
Like you would jewels
Given to you for safe-keeping

Fear and fascination

2011-08-27T13:47:00.000-07:00

The child
Has to be
Dragged away
From the sea
With promises of ice cream
And new adventure books
Though darkness
Has long fallen upon
The beach
And crowds have
Started turning home
Leaving the lovers
To snuggle happily
In night's anonymity ---
Was this the one
Who screamed in fear
On first seeing
The heaving waters
Refusing to leave my arms
Even wet his feet
In the frolicking waves
As being more used to docile toys
That did not come bounding
At him like this
As if it wanted
To sweep him away
Like some helpless doll.

Questions and answers

2011-08-26T14:36:00.000-07:00

Some questions
Have no honest answers
Before you ask them
Do you ask yourself
What answers you expect?
Do you ask them
Just to see them squirm?
Relish the flash of impotent anger?
The indirect reply?
The evasive retort?
The silent smile?
The plain lie?
Do you ask them
To put the other down?
To make you feel better?
To avoid questions yourself?
Do you have answers
For all the questions
You can be asked?
For all the queries
That life poses?
How many times
Have you hid
To avoid them!
Pretended you had not heard them
And slunk away shamefaced!
Only true friends know
What to ask and when,
And often are answers
To questions themselves.

Violence

2011-08-26T01:24:00.000-07:00

It was not violence
When homes were drowned
For a dam to be built
When slums were torched
For view cutters
Along the sewer of a river
When catamarans and fishermen were removed
To beautify the beach
When pavement vendors
Were swept away
For shopping malls
When the poor
Were driven away
And hid from visitors
When food rotted in godowns
And millions went hungry
When thousands of cotton farmers
Took their lives
As imports turned cheaper
When a child was told
By a teacher
He was fit
Only to tend cows

Drops of time

2011-08-23T06:26:00.000-07:00

Sun drops trail ink drops
Across the class floor
As agonisingly slow
As garden snails
Marking time
For the final bell,
Before it rings
How many times
Have I pattered
Down our street
Flung down the schoolbag
Kicked off the shoes
Raced out to play!
How many times
Have I not wanted
The sun drops to move
Willing to stay put
And listen for hours
To date-filled chronicles
Of distant, war-thirsty kings,
Or taken the circuitous route
Braving streets with
Lecherous eyes
Dreading to go home
To a demented face
Sword-sharp tongue
And whiplash hands!

Reality

2011-08-22T06:44:00.000-07:00

After I had walked
Round and round the place
Up and down every street
Looked at houses
All looking the same
With impersonal faces
Looking through me
With no plants or trees
To soften the implacable sun,
Invite songbirds or butterflies
No hint of laughter or babies crying
I had almost turned back
When he came towards me
Eyes shining, hair streaming
Asking me, where they were
Those who were selling bubbles.

Steps

2011-08-19T14:12:00.000-07:00

When I look at the steep steps
I have to climb
Before I can near
The less steep ones
Leading to the shrine
I feel as tired as a trekker
Facing one more stubble-rock
To clamber up;
They have a name
For this stretch too
The shin-twister flight
That tests pilgrims on foot
A veteran of the footpath
Who has taken me along
Tells me like a coach
"You have to take it step by step
Not count how many more there are"
After every five I want to sit down
Relax my muscles to keep away the cramps
It is getting more and more
Like doing sit-ups at a stretch
My guide is hardly breathless
Looks as cheerful as when he started
I don't know what vow he is fulfilling
For me it is merely a tryst
With the undulating hills
Where my father saw his father last
I have come without any prayer or vow or wish
How do I know what to wish for
If he doesn't know what I need?

Languages

2011-08-18T14:13:00.000-07:00

In a language
How many words
There are
In a word
How many languages
In a word
How many meanings
How many
Want to kill
A word before it spreads
Ban books with words
That are inflammable
How many repeat
Just one sentence
With just three words
Before the mirror
Only to turn speechless
Where they have to be spoken
How many want
To choke a sapling
With venomous words
But want to stand
In its shade
When it rises
How many words die
Because they are not spoken
How many die
Because of the words they speak
How many lose one another
Because they do not speak
How many are left talking to idols
Because they are not on talking terms with anyone else

Night

2011-08-17T14:39:00.000-07:00

Night is when words go to bed
Sharp tongues are tucked in
Carping eyes turn blind
Ears battered all day
Listen to silence like a song
That fetches mute rain, mist-wrapped hills
And a woman as diaphanous as a dewdrop
Night is when
Dreams preen before mirrors
Like teens filling out
Hyperactive children
Taking pity on their parents
Deign to sleep
When faces turn soft
After a love contest
Where losing is best

Our own houses

2011-08-16T13:56:00.000-07:00

Could it be this house?
The one with the tree?
That one painted blue?
We tried to guess
What could be our new home
As we entered the street
The empty house
Greeted us like an old friend
Throwing open its windows
Revealing its secret spaces
To us children first,
Giving us new playmates
New trees to climb
Little gardens
To raise our own plants
The moon beams streaming in
Made bashful buds flower
Those houses we did not own
We still think of as our own.

Greeting the rain

2011-08-15T06:37:00.000-07:00

When I race up the stairs
With an umbrella in hand
To fetch the clothes
Hung out to dry
On the terrace,
The bunch of kids
Who have come for vacation
Overtake me
To soak wet in the rain
As I shout at them
After enjoying their
Screaming and dancing
Like frolicking with a long-lost friend
My neighbour who has just come up
Stops me, pointing out:
"In the desert city where they live
They cannot greet the rain like this!"

Circuitous

2011-08-14T14:49:00.000-07:00

These feet are not meant
For all streets or roads
They must know the circuitous route
To places, go round houses
Learn to step off
Give right of way
When the high-born pass
Not step into temples
Of gods believed
To be without likes and dislikes
Beginning and end
But discriminating
Between head and feet
What holy water will wash away
The dirt of the heart?
What colour is the blue blood?

Sleep

2011-08-13T00:37:00.000-07:00

Before you can sleep
You have to
First switch off the lamp
Swish away the flies
In your head
Torch the mosquitoes
Buzzing around it
Make a mental note
Of tomorrow's outdoor chores
You can no longer put off,
Curse the light
Pouring through the glass
From the neighbour's window,
Immediately contrite
Being on a vow of non-hatred
Seek his forgiveness
For the harsh thoughts
And throw a blessing
In his direction
"May you prosper!"
Smile at the images
Of the godman's devotees
Hopping towards each other
All hoping to levitate ---
I only want to sleep.

Five fingers

2011-08-11T13:09:00.000-07:00

It was once a game
Handed down
From generation
To generation
Where the child
Was taught to share
His food with others
And leave the leftovers
To the pet,
It ends with tickling
And much laughter;
The house I am visiting
Has a single child
I once helped raise,
She is now quite grown up
Hardly recognises me
As I enter,
And continues
To watch television
Typically with a packet of chips,
She has no sibling
To stake any claim
To her snacks
She doesn't offer me anything
Her mother appears sleepily
Soon becomes wide awake
As she offloads all the local gossip
I am least interested in
The misfortunes of others
Do not make me happy
I have little news to tickle her
The long bus journey
For this courtesy call
Has made me thirsty and hungry
I suddenly want to grab the hand
Of my hostess
And play the game
Of the five fingers with her.

Suyambu

2011-08-10T15:14:00.000-07:00

A few years hence
No one will remember
That his sire
Worked ten hours
Every day for 10 years
After superannuation
To put him in college
Even he does not admit
That his lamp
Was lit by other hands
That his tree
Was planted by someone else,
Do rishis, rivers and the rich just happen
Like idols that just appear?

Moon landing

2011-08-08T15:21:00.000-07:00

The face blooms
Like a flower
When the moon appears
Stealthily like a lover
As if from nowhere
I do not remember
When my mother
Fed us both
I can only imagine
How it must have been
When I watch the toddlers
Now sharing their dinner
With Mickey Mouse
Tom and Jerry
And Donald Duck
Darting about
On television;
I still cannot
Forget the lip-smacking orb
That shone over
Huck Finn in the comics book
As he set out on the river
Or your smile
As we stole a moment
On the terrace
And with a touch
Landed on the moon.

Sky-clad

2011-08-05T13:54:00.000-07:00

Behind the high wall
Near the bus-stop
Still stands the tree
Carrying a crow's nest
On its crest,
Though now a bare sculpture
The leaves all gone
The bark coming off
From branches and torso
Giving it a leucoderma look,
In the evening
It makes such a silhouette
That even the weary eyes linger
On the river
Spread on the darkening map,
Black lightning
Frozen in the sky,
A metaphor, half-understood,
Hope, still hoping
Penance, awaiting
Perhaps, the next rain
To rise again.