A Song 242

A holed soul in
a mango tree.
Catered every festival.
Best to die whole,
before it death doles,
they said,
slicing into folds
without a
check up,
a prayer,
a burial.

.....

fated?
did wiggles on
its trunk, say so?

.....

Twiddling twiddle,
Lady stared at
blank palms of
Old Man,
who began with lines
under Karuna banyan.
'Show me yours.'
Old Man blinked at
lanes of lines.
In May, a Mayness.

A Song 241

Potted sadaphules
pleaded a thumb of
Earth
at parking lots.

The Outsider

At the Shiva temple, the priest intones, softly Hanuman Chalisa and Rama goes along. No strain at the notes, a flow of pleasantness in the morning. Old Man takes in white fronted flycatcher, laburnum, yellow copper pods starring the floor, peepal, banyan .... After the prayers, the priest cups grains, scatters them for waiting pigeons and squirrels. The practice is banned by the committee running the temple but the priest breaks the rule ...'Janwar hain, bhooke hain. Are bhai, ek bhook ke liye main puja path kartha hoon... hai na hui baath,' says the priest. He is a green. A quiet green. An unshrill green. Also an Adivaitist. Sankara in Bhaja Govindam talks of Udara Nimittam bhaukrita veshah. For Sankara, life is maya to be rejected; Tuka, Kabir agree. Life is absurd. Its so for Albert Camus with the absurdity being minus god, going by many readings of The Outsider. Today finished with yet another reading. A 2018 Gita. Take out God from the equation and Sankara is equal to Camus, a poet equals a lyrical novelist. Cyril Connolly in an intro to The Outsider, dwells on Camus attitude to death: 'What does eternity matter to me? To lose the touch of flowers and womens' hands is the supreme separation.' 1970s in Bombay was that: a touch of flowers and womens' hands. Bombay 1970 was a celebration. Friend Murali Gopalan always asks me about 70s Bombay. Yes, women, wine, no mine or thine. Cant undress the soul of  70s. It is so at 72 in 2018. Thanks, priest for setting the compass right. 

A Song 240

Deep in charpoys
under Karuna banyan,
buzzed by still May air,
steep noon calls of koels,
Old Man,
no fingerprints
on Facebook,
Lady, no mobiles,
watching
a leafy sky
boated to sleep. 

A Song 239

Brownie Bear
at home via amazon.
Gift from Vidya to Rama,
taped in love.
Brownie and Rama
dwell well, 
pat, feed, chat each other 
in spells.
Swapping places,
Rama suggested;
Brownie upset.