a desinned, coffee-toned priest
girdled in a chalk line of sacred thread,
waits before a locked house of god.
magpie robins on a mango tree
make company.
a cook's tricks to prayers cost
him the job.
denied of a roll of paan,
a dot of supari,
a fingertip of tobacco,
is upset.



..........


at Kasi,
Siva and Kali,
wading the Ganga,
light diyas in time;
residents of the burning ghats,
smear ashes of time.
framed,
the tale, at chintan's watch repair shop,
with cured clocks on walls,
chiming differently.


........


a municipal official in an auto
with cycle outriders,
checks out market road
cleaned of vendors.
he cuts corners;
they go back to theirs.
smiles smear market road.