A Song 245

Another June.
No rains.
Trains of herons,
egrets,
on tamarinds, copper pods,
rain trees,
shaping twiggy nests.
Ceremony of a faith.

A Song 244

Gossiped in chairs,
over tea and kharis,
on table
Cafe is shut.
At 72,
whatsapp on mobiles.
Gossip is forever. 

A Song 243

Taking a stand
before giving way,
gulmohur holds on
till bluster of wind
and rains;
for sadaphules,
a bloom, a bust
to sweepers' brooms.

......

A desire to go to
gaon,
a brown and green,
a touch away from railway lines,
lanes,
walking
crooked tree lines. 

Gandhi, A Memoir, William L. Shirer

From Flora Fountain, when it stacked second hand books, picked up Gandhi, A Memoir by William L. Shirer, a Chicago Tribune correspondent. Am unaware of  memoirs by Indian journalists with Gandhi as their beat. Shirer does not side step Gandhi foibles; yet sensitive and relevant in 2018 when lynching and shut downs of debates is the norm in India. Am not sure if politicians and journalists bother to take time out for the Memoir. Gandhi is relevant today if India is to be 70 to 80 per cent decent and civilised. Today, India is brutal and Gandhi does offer a many way street for all to stroll. In Gandhian times, the sub continent perhaps was as cruel with communal riots more a habit, a past time. Gandhi is a failure. Yet, more than Ramayana and Gita, Gandhi is the finest intro to India and suspect Shirer memoir is fair and square imbibing a Gandhian kindness. Gandhi is Indian, in the best and worst manner, like the Ganges, polluted and holy. Perhaps, the finest measure of Gandhi is a 'granite integrity' as Shirer puts it. Gandhi owned up everything, including sex life in old age. Gandhi does not need a blanket. Preferred to shiver with bald facts. Gandhi sets the norms. Shirer is not hassled by British unfairness, perhaps because he is an American. Still wonder at the professional and human links between a Gandhi and journalist Shirer. Gandhi took him as another human when he first met Shirer. Shirer wanted Gandhi to file reports. Scoops, analysis et al, a journalist is troubled by. The two beat a fine rhapsody, something hard to think of. Perhaps Gandhi did not mind a slap on the head. Sex, God, politics, the two dwelt on. They were friends even after Shirer left India to cover the Second World War from Europe. 'I am grateful that fate took me to him,' ends Shirer the 245 pages Memoir. A fine piece of reporting.