Sometimes the most terrible day… the day everything changes in a very long time; can come disguised as a regular day. Because if we know that this day was going to be the day that would change the way you saw the world, that lessons…
Today i passed the suburb in which i grew The building where i spent the happiest years of my life was a grey dwarf. The paanwala who used to leer at me Grinning, Exposing bloodcoloured paanstained teeth He wasn’t there. The cobbler, his son and…
HAPPY VISHU ALL In March when the laburnum, in full bloom Leans forward, bent with its linear sunlight-yellow blossoms Almost weary with the weight of spring My heart lifts. . And it’s here That featival of mine with the fragrance of crushed cardamom, Mingled with…
Monday mornings 8 am is my cabwalla I walk seeing him, without looking at him He extracts himself from his group of cabwalla bhais And inserts himself behind the steering wheel I don’t tell him where to go, he doesn’t ask He simply knows, I’m…
You are more powerful than you think you are Can’t you see? You are where you are, you will be where you will be… Despite, despite despite. There is no need to fear, or look over your shoulder. You have only moved forward. You are…
I got into a train today Why do we romanticize the middle class? I’d forgetten the smell of shit The fleeting visage of poverty And that Railway tracks are garbage dumps, spittoons, open latrines. That the vinca rosa bush growing on the edge of a…
Rain; The drama of a storm. Lavasky sunrises. Coming home to a tidy room; Clean, creasless bedsheets. The curling eyelashes of sleeping children; the fragrance of a baby’s head. A brush of lips on my head when I’m working (The nothing-is-needed-I-just-remembered-how-much-you-make-me-happy-walla-peck). Mornings. The cool hush…
ONE DAY AT A TIME In the lexicon of my mind Safety is my wordstock It’s part of my coding. One day at a time One day at a time. Unharmed impregnable safe safe safe. These are the repositories, coffers, vaults i get behind. When…
ARROWHEAD & ADJECTIVES And all the stories I told you The layers, the colours, the different threads, I gave them to you to hold. Why didn’t you encircle them as I would have your stories? Why didn’t you hold them till they grew smaller? (We…
Be water. Unstoppable. A melt from capped peaks, Gaining speed. Taking with you, a bit of everything. Making a mark without making a mark. And as you approach The pebbles sing. Be water. Deep, mysterious. Familiar. A sorceress. Quenching. Teaching. Soothing. Music-making. Amorphous. The dew…
