Aadi

This wind which takes its name
From the month when it keeps on
Like someone
Learning to speak
Tries to say something to me
Year after year
But goes undeciphered;
For some it is more
Like a footloose lunatic;
Who has come back again
With the same incoherent story;
Walking is now like toddling
Or moving on drunken feet;
I hear the wind cursed, at first
By women for its wanton ways
When it snatches at their clothes
Like a voyeur's minion
And messes up their hair
As would an envious in-law;
After a few days
It becomes a naughty child
Whose antics bring back smiles
And memories of the butter-thief;
It is at night the wind breaks down

Rattles every door and window
Crying to be let in       

  

A car too far

My distant relative
On his rare visit
Cannot sit still
In our best chair
Every few seconds
He strides out
To check on his car
Fearful of its safety
In broad daylight
Even with the driver
Staying put in the vehicle
To keep imaginary
Urchins at bay
We tell him
Not to worry
It's not a no-parking zone
The street is broad enough
To let two water tankers
Pass his SUV
And still give it
A wide berth
After perfunctory enquiries
About our well-being
He goes back
To the door
To look at the wheels
I am reminded of a robber
In a heist film
Keeping an anxious eye
On the getaway vehicle
When he drives down himself
It's even worse
He hardly sits down
Walks out with the refreshment offered
You would think
He was going to share it with his transport
Gulps it down with one eye on, you know, what
Then makes a quick exit
I heard he has got a dog now
He takes with him everywhere
I dread his next visit  

Temblor

When the earth turned
As infirm as the sea
Little was left standing
Of hubris or faith or hope;
The sky, indifferent as always
Looked at us
As if we were interlopers
Then shed crocodile tears;
What we thought watched over us
Was also amid the rubble
We salvaged a benedictory hand
Of the household deity
Sticking out of the debris ---
The tremors refuse to die down

We've seen such convulsions before
On a fragile child, and partly died
Every time the body shuddered
When the fever rose ---
What drug or prayer will cure
Our mother, child, mother-child,
Stop this shaking, trembling
End her febrile nightmare?