not being of the same warp and weft
a murukkan-stained smile queried
from under a jackfruit tree:
"ishtapetto (like it)?"
"o (yes)", said my friend,
managing a stumble on a crooked, mud track.
84, in a white mundu, blouse,
a thorthu fronting ample breasts,
madhavi kutty pickets memories.
claims she:
the jackfruit is my age,
leftover from a crowd axed for seeding rubber.
a yakshi has her home guessing times.
a lingering clasp of lips behind the jackfruit,
her loving chettan,
tickles her to a chuckle.
prescribed a distance by karanavars
(it has shrunk, yet remains),
working in ricefields,
a cup of kanji someday,
a saucer the next,
but never together.
the track was a water-way,
the fields bore rice and tapioca,
there was day,
there was night,
there were laughs,
there were tears.
sloughing customs, flaunted a red flag.
hammer and sickle lie rusted.
emotions crusted.
a tin trunk,
loose change,
bits of bell metal,
kept her two daughters unwed;
caring madhavi they age.
lights the dawn with oil wicks in the
prayer room,
brooms the front yard,
eases with a cup of tea and mathrubhoomi.
now,
lost between acres of rubber
miles of jewellery billboards,
she is in an acceptance,
as a cool breeze curls up on the crown of
the jackfruit,
a piece of blue sky for a pillow.

on my piece of earth
temples are girdled with strays,
priests, pilgrims.
every rag picker pets a stray.
generations of strays, beliefs, believers ---
on a rotation, coming and going, ---
leave neither bark or bite.

on my piece of earth
nowhere to hide kills
(oh, nothing left to kill),
no arguments over graves
no discussions over pyres,
in corners,
strays nibble at teaspoons of grass.

on my piece of earth
sun, moon, stars nap in turns
as cars honk for right of way
running over strays.

on my piece of earth
fresh as a new sari,
revathi ambles to the temple praying,
smiling over fun  nights,
frowning over lunch menus for grandkids.
rarely misses the routine,
devotees search and sight her,
srays with bylines track her.

on my piece of earth
occasional notes of forest foot beats,
ancient drumbeats,
tender heart beats,
strays upbeat.


.......