My 46th encounter with the peacock

1.
A peacock cries
Inside its unformed light ivory tanned egg
Sobbing non-stop
During eight months of incubation

That's why we live in stoicism
No tears that flow
Even when the tap is turned on

Saying so the peacock
Honked and howled
Did bup bup bup
And wheeewheewhee


2.
Be silent
Do not wake the village up
Why?
When they wake up they start working

That tires me


3.
The peacock picked up a tenebrous pebble
Tossed it in the air
Caught the hard stone with its beak
On its way down

He said
This pebble has seen the fall and mistrustful survival
Of this township
Seen royalty sent on the road of exile
To another homeland

What makes the pebble special is
Not the fact that I can build a grave stone with it
See
It has a juicy worm
On its under-side
Making for a succulent post-lunch snack


4.
Have you seen a peacock perched on a donkey
What a preposterous question, said I
It was such an attitude
That prevented my peacock ancestors
From inventing an intelligent mass transport system


5.
My memory fails me
Why what happened I asked
I've forgotten the day
This earth became mute

My 45th encounter with the peacock

1.
The peacock saw me
Your face is wet
Your eyes are moist
My people call it mourning, I said

Oh, let's take a cold shower and then let's have a beer


2.
So
What happened?
I don't know
How come no reports on the TV
She was no high and mighty person
With fans and charlatans who posed as disciples

Wish she was the queen of the ants
Mindful of manners
Silent, never troubling
Even though she was a teeny-weeny creature
In the jungle

Are we discussing me here? asked the peacock with a pout


3.
Why don't you write something in one of the languages you claim to know?
Saying what? I asked
A monodrama will do
Like the one you've written
(Your only claim to fame I'm told)
About a multitude of things
Incantations and speeches and all

I try

Her as an old spinster sitting inside a fridge
Alone
Talking to fern leaves till they wither and shrivell

The sky leaking
Dry bones bursting
She wanders the dusty streets
Knocking on doors
Begging for her odour to be erased
Forever

How do you know all this, I asked the peacock
Sir, he replied
You have talked and walked in your sleep
For seven nights in a row


4.
I was consuming my anti-biotics
At dawn
Still despairing, asked the peacock
Yes, said I
No man-made drug for that?
Not yet, I smiled

It was a weak smile
If I was a Dutch painting, I would have smiled better


5.
So
Did she outlive her purpose
No, said I
I think she tried to resist the winds

Sounds like my gum tree
You remember how she shone in the darkness
The cause of her death, never disclosed
The optimist in the graveyard said it was asthma

Plus the discomfort
At having to extend her stay on this planet


6.
What will you do now, asked the peacock
Mourn some more, said I
The peacock rolled his eyes
Clockwise, squeezed eyes thrice, and then counter clockwise
The human kind discovers all kinds of banalities
To pass the time

It's an elegy for departure
The epilogue of a lifetime
A finale to a besieged soul
An inscription that befits Acropolis or Knososs
A prayer from an atheist
For god knows what and why


7.
Go sleep, said he
Can't said I
Why asked he
She will come and knock on my eyelids

My 44th encounter with the peacock

We watched a game of soccer, together
When it concluded
The peacock said
A pointless game
It consists of seeing that the ball creates a number of motifs and groupings
All for no purpose

That's when I realised
My life is a goalless draw

My 43rd encounter with the peacock

1.
What are those dew drops on your face
Asked the peacock to me
These are tears, said I
They suit your countenance, he said

Make you prettier



2.
I wiped my face, meticulously, with his feathers
He smiled
With me its a tad different
My eyes are slow to cry but quick to see

My momma and poppa advised me, once
Son, that's what eyes are for
For seeing
Do not fritter on extra-curricular activities


3.
So why cry?
I lost an important someone last night

It happens all the time
The way of the world and all that
Shortish absence is goodish in the longish run
Said he

So why cry and all? he again, asked
One less person to talk to, said I



4.
A hour later, said the peacock
In sorrow you live your life
Do endure
That's the way it is on earth

Happy are those who dare to hop onto a spaceship
Shift their domicile to another planet
So tell me
Have you the cash-in-hand to book a one-way ticket to the moon


5.
I clinked my tumbler of whiskey-soda
I saw
The ice wither
I said
Everything, so fragile
Everything, so perishable

Grieve not, said the peacock
Dial time, who is generally recommended
As one of the best surgeons in these parts
Time devours all

Or have a good shag and sleep contently ever after
That's what I would do


6.
Many hours later ...
I was silent
The peacock asked me
Why?

I wrote with my toe on the sand
Tis best to be quiet in a lost cause

My 42nd encounter with the peacock

1.
What are you doing?
Asked the peacock to me
I'm writing 1,38,198 commas
On a piece of acid-free paper
Said I

Why commas
Asked the peacock

Since I can't match
The 884,647 words of Shakespeare
Till such time
I will mirror his commas


2.
On Diwali day
I said
May a thousand diyas be lit, everyday
That's a lot of diya oil replied the peacock

Plus the light
Which casts long shadows
That will prevent my beauty sleep
Then my dreaming


3.
Who discovered this thing called commode?
A marvellous piece of furniture
Tad better than Darjeeling tea
Said the peacock
Occupying the toilet
Reading my Sunday newspaper


4.
The moneylender murdered by his wife
Says the peacock to me
Did you know?
Nope

The story is as follows
The moneylender and his wife are married in a state of discontentment
He beats her, she hates him
He drinks, she objects

She starves him
He steals food meant for her pet dogs
She plots revenge
Commits adultery
With his best friend

The moneylender files a deposition
Best friend is bankrupt
Moneylender is triumphant
Wife is depressed
She chews wild weeds
In a dreadful state of mind, she kills the moneylender

She is arrested
Best friend is arrested
Since the moneylender has willed the money in his name
Best friend becomes a lover-acomplice

This is the story of your village
Of its unhappiness
Says the peacock to me
What happened to the pet dogs, I ask?

Hmm
Says, the peacock
As always you pose the wrong query
Since the day of the trial, the dogs start to starve
On the day of the judgement, they eat other
To their heart's content

How do you know all this, I ask
The peacock replies, village gossip



5.
In my next life
I want to be a purpled-frog
Croaked the peacock
My visiting card will read: Mr Nyctibatrachus
Qualification: Outlived the dinosaur

My 41st encounter with the peacock

You read so much
Said the peacock to me
It's not such a filthy vice
As you make it out to be
I retorted

I prefer action
For its eloquence
Even if in your eyes I'm ignorant
I'm actually much more learned than you

Saying so he strutted off in a huff

Next day
I watched the peacock
Mimic the rise and fall of waves
Matching its rhythm
The peacock stood still
No movement whatsoever

That was the day
The sea
Realised the relative unimportance
Of low tides, high tides

My 40th encounter with the peacock

The peacock said to me
Peacocks are better than humans
How so? I asked
We don't listen
To others talk (ill-informedly) about sports, politics, art, holiday ideas, diseased family members, price of stocks
For 23,789 hours of our life

That's called open mindedness, I said
It's called squandering your time, he said
As I listened to him