A Song 201

Parents rambled in faith.
Me kept away, in fear.
Walk mornings, Link Road,
to St. John Bosco Church,
Vazira Ganesh,
with Rama;
pray down doubts,
walk back, a tonne heavier,
with doubts.
Love is God.
Check out a wandering sambhar
in Tadoba forests.
Fates sealed, packed, delivered
by amazon on time.
No DRS for doubts.
Tuka, Kabira
stranded at zebra crossings.
Gods in recusals.
Vicks balm,
out of stock,
at Milan Medico.
Seas, skies, crowds, traffic 
flow at Marine Drive,
for sure.
  
......

Roses don thorns.
Sadaphules
free of scorn.

A Song 200

Lady, Old Man,
on walking sticks
wiped pews of tears
left by prayers;
chewing Sankranti til guls,
ganged up with hollering street kids
holding bamboo brushes,
colouring skies and earths,
with kites, 
fallen, flying.

A Song 199

Bad at kites.
Never rode skies.
Phirkis always fell aside.
No bhokata cries.
Makar Sankrantis
have been that way,
always,
like or dislike.
Til guls, lone likes.

Durga and Swami

Durga and Swami. Old Man ever, ever favourites. Twins, for Old Man.  Swami or W.S. Swaminathan of Malgudi fancied by Rasipuram Krishnaswami Iyer Narayanaswami and Durga of Nishchindipur imagined by Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay. Friend Usha Subramaniam in USA had asked for books to read and Old Man suggested Swami and Friends, missed out on Pather Panchali or its edited version Making a Mango Whistle. Durga and Apu hear the chug of a steam engine in the writing of Bibhuti, never sight it. Swami at Malgudi Station says bye to friend Rajam boarding a train. Late night Old Man is into again enjoying Swami and Friends.. a soft snore cascading into loudness of old age... Durga boarded a train at Nishchindipur station without a ticket to Malgudi to meet her friend Swami, on an invitation. After two days and three nights she touched Malgudi and stared at the station... as Swami was a touch late ... a crowd of some five including the station master were talking in Tamil and Durga had one tongue Bengali. She had been invited by the Malgudi Cricket Club to play a Test Match with Young Men's Club on the sands of Sarayu  ... a mixed Test match, the first ever .... men and women in both teams... Durga could have been Harmanpreet Singh as Swami is Tate ...... Durga scored a double century, Tate taking ten wickets... Test match won by Malgudi Cricket Club ... with Kapil Dev presenting the Cup..... and arguing for men-women mix Test matches in a five minute Tamil-Hindi-English speech... if there can be mixed doubles in tennis and badminton, why not cricket, he argued. Swami and Durga wagged their heads, impatient for the ice creams, sodas, dosas and chutneys, teas for Durga and coffees for Tate and his team. Old Man spun out of a last whirr, stirred out of a dream. For an hour he lay still on the bed wondering over the absence of a girl friend for Swami in Swami and Friends; and the total absence of dosas, idlis and vadas in Narayan .... coffee is mentioned along with tiffin .... a smile took over Old Man, as he recalled Narayan write the best cricket reports in 1935, possibly the first Indian cricket correspondent musing Bradman, Hobbs, Duleep, .... embroidering the Indian soul with cricket, to make it the forever game of Swamis and Durgas in 2018 ...... a way to wake into a morning. With coffee he is into Making a Mango Whistle... and Ashes and SA-India Tests.... Perhaps Wisden should put Swami and Durga on the cover.

Shreya and Swami

When 13 year old grand-daughter, Shreya meets 71 year old grandpa, there is a lot to talk, though the sessions are getting less frequent with school, coaching and turn a scholar classes. Yet they meet and she talks, old man listens. And old man awaits the pleasure, like having a hot vada pav. Of her school friends into Tiger Zinda Hai of Salman Khan... accha film hai...., boring history and language classes.. she enjoys maths. Let poets write poetry, kings and politicians make history ... but why thrust it on schools, she asked at a Saturday session, pulling out a history book from her school bag; the history book spun Ajoba. For effect added, 'Ajoba, Ramayan and Mahabharat are bakwas, hai na? How can somebody give birth to 100 kids?'. Ajoba nodded. 'Stories hai. Harry Potter kya such hai,' Ajoba returned and that would have pleased all staunch Bhakts, mosquitoing the place. Ajoba did not realise Potter cannot be touched. Her aunt, Vidya, has Potter-touched her. She is Harry Potter, books, films and the many add-ons... she looks down at Ajoba not being a potty Potter. Ajoba always goes back to Swami and Friends by R.K. Narayan. But Swami is a no-no to Shreya. And then uncle Ganesh, made the point: Shreya and today's world cannot relate to Swami. He was saying Swami is dated, storming Ajoba. In another 50 years will Swami not be? Will there be kids at all or just bhakts and adults? And than Ajoba had to accept the change: iphones, whatsapp, chats, skypes, ball pens, malls have vanvassed Swami. Swami is not. School is an iphone, at least in Mumbai and for Ajoba's Shreya. Of course Ajoba is not blaming Shreya, he never can...there wont be any reversing. Swami at Albert Mission School liked history or that's what Narayan imagines....: '...Next period they had history. The boys looked forward to it eagerly. It was taken by D. Pillai, who had earned a name in the school for kindness and good humour. He was reputed to have never frowned or sworn at the boys at any time.His method of teaching history conformed to no canon of education. He told the boys with a wealth of detail the private histories of Vasco da Gama, Clive, Hastings, and others. When he described the various fights in history, one heard the clash of arms and the groans of the slain. He was the despair of the headmaster whenever the latter stole along the corridor with noiseless steps on his rounds of inspection.' Shreya yawned: 'Neend ata hai, Ajoba, history classes mein. Aur wo teacher...bakwas ... school mein koi padta nahin hain, marks ke liye jaata hai, kuch honewala nahin nahi..' me Lady firmly put down. She politely said Nahin to Swami and switched on Ajoba's iphone for a chess game. Ajoba has never won and this day did not. Will story telling and writing be... without grandmas, grandpas, parents.... will iphones or something better take over.... will there be no Swami? Swami is history not a story.  

A Song 198

Sec.144 on Marine Drive.
Arrest warrants on Tuka, Kabira,
Rakkumai, Vitthala.
Dump tamboor, loom,
dohas, abhangs,
Rakkumai, Vitthala,
selves,
into Arabian Sea.
Police vans,
fire engines,
ambulances,
search Infinity
to handcuff mutiny. 

Tuka laughs

Friend Tuka has a rare sense of humour. He poets:

Once there was a celibate man who tried to bugger a donkey.
The donkey kicked him in the balls and ran away.
Gone was the donkey. Gone was the celibacy.
The man lost face.
If you say, "Whatever is to happen, happens,"
This is what will happen!
Says Tuka, you'll lose either way.

From Tukaram, Says Tuka, English translation by Dilip Chitre. Am laughing over the lines, tummy laughs. Long months, since me felt happy imagining the scene. Am certain Tuka and his close friend Vithala based at Pandharpur could be still guffaing when priests and pilgrims are not around. No ke sara, sara, sara, whatever will be, will be, the future is not for us to see..., for Tuka. And me howls every time me watches the Mahabharata scene in Janne Bhi Do Yaaro.. by Kundan Shah. A Mahabharata rip-off. In today's time, Modi times, Bhakt times, even a smile over the scene could be certain bullets and death. Ramayana and Mahaharata are no laughs. Have never heard or read of Jai Shri Ram cracking a joke with Sita; or Hanuman with Lakshman. Grim. Maybe if King Dasaratha had four daughters, it could have had some grins. Yuddhishtra in Mahabharata is a classic Las Vegas citizen. When a man gambles his wife, he cannot qualify for Vedic saintship; but sure could be a Las Vegas icon. Again, Bhishma does not come up with a joke, even a crude one. If the Kauravas were all women, they could be abducting a man, and that should be a plot worth looking at. Think of it, women chasing down a Duryodhana down Parliament Street, ripping his dhoti off with a Bhakt trying to rescue. But me is a male. Some female artists should attempt the idea. Am sure, it will be funning. There are many Ramayanas.... and possibly Mahabharatas .... we need female versions. Aparna Sen could work on it. Why is it every religious tract has to be boring....old age India has come up with poets, dancers and all that ... but not a human being with any sense of humour. In 2018 Bhakt India, none laughs; all of us are grim with hate or fear; Jaspal Singh Bhatti was a change. When Stand up comedians are sent kill notices, its best to revert to me dear friend Tuka. Am still laughing.