One morning in D

The wind
Enters my ears
Every morning
With a message
Of sorts

Six azaans
One after another
I think its time
God has a chat with the local trustee
To co-ordinate
Alarm clocks

Cross-legged, I sit
With the wind
In my lap
At a tea shop
Managed by a husband-wife
Who can't see

Patrons suckle milk
One goat per person
No cup, no saucer
No tea leaves
Nor pasteurizing
This is hand to mouth existence

I wait my turn
A murrah buffalo is readied
Which udder would I prefer
Left is right
Right is wrong
So what is weak?
Which is strong?

The wind brings news
People are thrilled
The Great Banyan has been awarded
A Padma Bhushan
First ever
For a hic-cupping tree
Perhaps the greatest
Of our times

She is 200 years old
With 3,000 plus aerial roots
And as many hic-cups
How will all 14,500 sq/metre of her
Board the passenger train to Delhi?

The wind says
Her hic-cup is a disease 
Caused by a cyclone
After the main trunk was amputated
In a fungus epidemic

Now the canopy stands
Happy and proud
Make a wish
Says the wind to the tree
She does so
In return
The wind lends her a shawl
To cover her chest

Its unbearable, this cold wave
Freezing point
It's claimed many trees
In these parts

Quite true, I say
It's summer
Masquerading as winter
The wind shudders
Due to a bit of flu

What about we
Say a chorus of leaves, creepers, broken twigs
Even in this, we face discrimination?
No comfort for us?
Ever?
Never?
I trample their voices
Beneath my chappal
As I cross the field

The wind
Turns
Around the corner
The azaan is complete
Almost

One final gasp
For the full moon
As she fades
In the haze
Of the sun

The moon
She smiles
Her crinkle
Has become a wrinkle

So much to do
How to do
What to do
As and when I do whatsoever I do

Tomorrow
I will pluck weed

Day after
Someone will pluck me

Two wild buttercups growing out of my toe

The earth is burning
I smell it
Through one unclogged nostril
The other defunct for days

Yesterday at this time
The soil was moist
Tears from the sky
Or quite simply, our planet sweating

Seven children, unclothed
Sit on the ground
Around a fire of eucalyptus leaves
Their great grand mother
Chops timber into tiny pieces
Little alphabets
For them to take to school
Which may re-open today

My word, today is prevaricate
I put it in my shirt pocket
Pre-var-i-cate
A noun, verb, adjective
Or something more
I give up
One more word that I discard
Crushed under my feet

A colourful centipede emerges from a crevice
In the grassland
She leads me
To a river
I gargle my mouth
The water tastes boiled
The centipede informs me
It is because this river sings
An inappropriate raga
Madhuvanti is not for the mornings

The sun rises
I know
There is a bit of sun on my elbow
With an expiry date
Preserve me, it says

I try
To return home
My feet are wedged between the bekaatas bamboo
Or is it a manvel bamboo
Hopelessly lost
Give me some indication, a sign
A flowering
One fruit
Don't block my path
Please

I stand there
All alone
I become a gargoyle
Made of granite
Dull grey, all 150 feet of me
That's my story
The one they tell about me

Except on the days
There is a thunderstorm
Strong winds
Lightening strikes
Instead of caving in
I walk towards the long forgotten road

Behind me
Others march
Teaks, mangos, coconuts and orchids in military beat
Also adad, dudhkod, khakhro, timru, haldu, chopadi, bondaro, shimlo, and ambla
We chant decidious slogans
Left right
Left right
I'm all ready to have a fight

Morning, once again
The rain, it ceases
I look over my shoulder
443 uprooted trees
In a lush forest

I've my revenge
But I am not home, yet
Never shall be

My feet tingle
Cramps due to all the exercise
I look
I see
Two wild buttercups
Growing out of my toe

Freedom met Hope and other poems

1.
She decided to become a poet
Write beautiful songs

That night
Her knee-length black hair
Turned whitish grey
Even as she slept


2.
Truth is discoverable
But is truth a he? Or a she?
Perhaps deception?
Or a game we're losing


3.
Freedom met Hope
In the back seat of a ST bus
They started a relationship 
When Hope paid for the bus ticket
This led to marriage
They travelled
Sometimes standing
Sometimes on top of the bus
Moving from one town to another

One day, Hope was abandoned
Was informed, "Mr H, Utopia is not healthy
Our people encounter grief"
They want fishes
To fly
Instead of swim

Freedom was not permitted to accompany Hope
She continued with her nomadic life
Given the nature of the times
She frequently changed places of residence
Took up temporary causes

One day, there was a knock on the door
That's when she fled
Forever


4.
He holds a photograph
Of a village near Hingni 
That may vanish, in entirety, in a space of a few days
Due to 558 registered suicides (so far)
This year

More people die of smallpox and snake bites
He says, with a smile


5.
Accursed questions: when will you stop asking them
Asked the ruler
As he flogged the sea waves
For disobeying his diktat

Raga Daes on the surbahar

1.
The shrub told the tree
Can I sit in your lap?


2.
Daily
She feeds toast to 99 pigeons
Named after the 100 Kauravas
Duhsala is missing
Since she prefers French Fries

3.
So, the story is, Krishna was asked by Saraswati
How much taalim do you do to woo these pretty gopis?


4.
Once upon a time, Ampersand was the 27th alphabet
Till Z nudged it out of the last place in the English lexicon


5.
The day, mother played Raga Daes on the surbahar
The tree outside her window decided to scent its flowers

To sit on a stone and six other shorts

1.
Oh, how many smiles
Did she not smile, today


2.
Is there anything more tragic than a man
Who chews paan
Instead of swallowing the betel juice
Spits on himself in the mirror


3.
What happens to an unfinished story ...


4.
My dad is better than yours
Since he can put his ears to the sand
And predict the exact moment
Low tide becomes high tide


5.
The tree is dead
Do we burn it
Along with the other dead trees
On the funeral pyre


6.
The way mother
Wraps a saree around her hips
Reminds him of an algebra sum
Unsolved

7.
To sit on a stone
Watch the grass grow

A compass that helps find happiness

1.
A collection of 143 types sarees with a matching set of blouse
Four cats, three maids, two cars
And a husband

2.
The judge's eyes widened
When the prosecutor sang a libretto in the court
As part of his petition

3.
Shoeless
She enters the room
With ayurvedic herbs in her hair

4.
Whenever I open my eyes after a particularly troublesome night of ponder
My first thought is
I hope the neighbour has not stolen the newspapers
Yet again

5.
When guru one came face to face with guru two
In the airport lounge
There was silence

6.
Did you know
Little B has shifted his penis to his little finger
Whensoever he wants to do susu
He puts his hand out of the train window
And does so

7.
In the kitchen, she stood
Wondering what the Bhagvad Gita said
About adding sugar-free to gaajar ka hawla


8.
You have let us down, said my parents to me
I wonder why
As I read their post-card in the andaa cell
At Yerawada Jail


9.
While 
He yearned for a kiss from her sweet lips
She pined for Nalli Nahari in desi ghee

10.
The dowry demand said: a compass that helps find happiness

Adam and Eve

What if it hadnt worked out for 
Adam and Eve on their blind date