Poetry in the park

-


Despite the rains over the last two days, we hoped that there would be no thunder or lightning last evening. And thankfully, there wasn't. A few of us met met at the luscious green KBR to read our poems. The idea was to stay away from coffee houses and chai ki dukaan to soak ourselves in the greenery.

And, we found a sweet spot under a tree. After a couple of rounds of poetry a peacock walked graciously. The velvet colors it adorned were gorgeous. The peacock hopped on to the trees nearby and then onto a tower. We ended the session after three rounds.

The poetry read by these closet poets about their deepest emotions of love, patriotism and hurt, will remain with me.

Here's my verse (an ode to Centenary--Jallianwala Bagh Massacre)

April 13, 2019

The banner of summer sun and call of cuckoos wrapped the little Sikh boy, let's call him Little S, and his sister who were playing chuppam chupai.

Little S hid behind the turbaned man with broad, strong shoulders. Sister came closer and he stealthily ambled towards the nagara man. His hands were nimble yet he played the dhol with vigour every Baisakhi.

But today was a different day.

The nagara man and the other elders sat around the dry well wearing a solemn smile.

The long sturdy wooden doors opened.
The hoardes of men with knives and guns entered.

Little S's eyes widened but he knelt behind the nagara man.

He watched his own kin fall with bloodied chest and arms.
A gory version of chuppam chupai unfolded in front of his button eyes.

He froze.

Suddenly a pair of strong arms picked him and ran towards the dry well..
His last hideout

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The presence of his absence

-
Image
  Bala and me Bala's presence at YK Antiques has been so impactful that when he left Hyderabad, it left a gaping hole. One that we cannot fill and thinking we can fill it is only foolish. His passion and love for YK Antiques is unparalled.  Satya, Bala and sir with Dobara team For the unitiated, YK Antiques is a home museum in Alwal, Hyderabad, and is run by YK Murthy and is supported by the love of volunteers -- Satya, Vinay, Preeti, Laalithya, among others.  And today, there was a School Tour to the museum. And personally, the presence of Bala's absence was felt. Before Bala moved to Goa, he spent most of his time at YK Antiques and he and YK Sir set the home museum with utmost care. Whenever there was a school tour, Bala would spontaneously conjure some fascinating activity.  And this time, it was we who had to do it. I knew it would be hard to fill in the shoes of Bala. And the next thing, I thought was to involve my mother, who is creative and spontaneous. The t...
Read more

Ammamma

-
Image
Ammamma. The word itself evokes memories for us. Her passing is the passing of a part of our childhood which we (my cousins and I) cherish. This is a piece for her. Ammamma is a telugu word to address mom's mom.  Ammamma lived in Chikkadpally, an area in the older part of Hyderabad, in one of those houses with multiple door entries, many windows in every room, and washroom that’s outside the house. Like Ammamma, the house was open, warm and welcoming. Anyone (whom we know ofcourse) could come inside and stay there as long as they wanted to. This was the 90s and perhaps due to the times we lived in, people were trusting of each other, children grew up in multiple households (grandparents’, aunts’, uncles’..). In our household, while there was emphasis on studies, there was emphasis on having fun too – be it watching movies, playing in the gully, studying and going to tuition together, or watching the Sunday Jungle Book together. Ammamma played a pivotal role in taking us to movi...
Read more

A chit-chat with Nita of Yunikee & Sign Medium that makes life accessible for the people of deaf community

-
Image
Nita was born hearing to deaf parents. Living through the challenges of communicating on behalf of her parents with hearing people, After pursuing many things, eventually began working with deaf children. In 2019, she founded Yunikee & Sign Medium, with her husband, Chaithanya, and a friend, Rahul, to make life accessible for 60 million people in the deaf community in the country. She also runs International Deaf Academy that provides high quality education to children in the deaf community. Here’s a brief chit chat with Nita. Team Yunikee Please share your journey that led you to founding Yunikee. I was born hearing to deaf parents and all through my life, I experienced firsthand the challenges and struggles a deaf person goes through even in simple things that we take for granted. At a time when phones were not common and digital video calling was not even thought of, my parents had to communicate with hearing people, and I started interpreting for them as I grew up. But for a ...
Read more