Untitled

this piece is again composed entirely by a friend Niveditha Viswanathan and is only published here by me and with out her knowledge and permission, at that. If by chance she comes across this, I hope she will forgive me for this "trespassing"!

She stands apart,among the many

Milling about in the solemn space

Of the temple,ah so sacrosanct,

A simple,solitary yellow flower

Adorns her deep black mane,

It cascades against the sun-straks

To reveal a face ever so charming

She fills her mud-pot with water

That trickles down to bathe her feet

As she walks ,like paradise personifies

In six yards of the silk saree

As she reaches the tulsi plant,

She utters a silent prayer

The droplets run doen her long fingers,

Like river waiting to meet the sea.

She royally heads back home,

Her red bindi matching her lips

And her mane dancing to herr rhythm

She steps past the intricate design

That greets her at the door,

A warm smell of holy ash,

Kumkum,ghee,oil and flowers dancing

To the holy bell tolling

Amidst her father's fingers and a rising

Aroma of caffeine clenches

her mind,and her feet run to the kitchen,

Only to find the silent marble floor

shatter the life of her dreams

Here,so far from home,in

A distant land so alien to thr mind

She sits on the sparkiling tile,

Only to miss the mud floor.

I met Niveditha during my internship in IMSc, Chennai in the summers of 2006.