My blog and FB friend Bhavana Nissima, recently went on a trek through the country which took her up from the south , a bit towards the eastern coast , a bit up north, and then down to the central area, all the while, really studying how the slogging, non powerful other half lives,innovates , learns . Then some travels through the capital New Delhi, and a washing off , of , maybe old doubts, in the confluence of three rivers, at the Kumbh Mela in Varanasi.
Her old faithful Power "shoes", greatly at variance with todays interpretation of Power, finally gave way at some distance away from her parents home in Chennai, her eventual destination.
Sometimes, inanimate beings surprise us with a sudden outburst of self destruction. When it simply gets difficult to understand news coming in from a land you just walked through.....
two healthy hardy soles,
on a teerth yatra
across rice fields,
so slush
they gave
parched lands a complex.
Then lands smelling of dung
giving way to
the unity of rivers,
and they emerged
fresh again
after
despairing
on Capital lands.
An urge to come home,
and the couple
enriched but skeptical
kept on
now on the final track.
Till one of them heard the news
from the capital lands
and burst out
unable to comprehend the horror
of it all.
The other slowed down a bit,
helped her along,
saying ,
"Everyone thinks
we are so tough ,
but once in a while
it helps to let it all out
and scream..."
Beautiful lines. Love the way you (and the wearer of the shoe) have used the event to mataphor our times.
ReplyDeleteSuranga, your poem breathes on its own...the pain spurts out, sense of helplessness descends, and now my soul also wants to let out a scream...
ReplyDeleteYou poems really have a life Suranga. Vary hard hitting, deeply touching.
ReplyDeletei think this is my first time on your blog and all I would say you're writings are worth all the praises by the people above !! Good to have discovered your blog !!
ReplyDelete