dawn sleep.
afternoo seistas.
earthy fiestas.



.......

on the way to the temple.
an elephant, chained to a banyan
on a patch of grass and earth.
the lady, unstill as ever, over a primeval hurt.
unkempt, alone, scraping her sides with
a banyan twig held in her trunk,
sways to an inherited beat.
on the pavement, under a blue plastic sheet,
a couple, many days and nights old,
sip tea from the same plastic cup.
cars in tinted glasses swim by.
raindrops brush the bare air.
he pauses, some distance from faith.


.........


raindrops roll off mango, jackfruit, jamun trees
to a patch of tarred road.
five feet from the road, he stood.
a cattle egret stepped around daintily.
a line of poetry,
disappeared after two mornings.