Rudaali. 22.04.2020

R for Rudaali

I sit at a strange place

It is neither inside

Nor outside the home

I hang my head in shame

For I am the untouchable

Whose body was ravished

While the soul soared

I am neither a wife

Nor a whore to speak of

I am that secret that

Everyone knows

But will not talk about

My lover’s body is being made ready 

For the last rites - to cremate

Only I will not see him

For one last time

Because I am the untouchable

But mind you when I cry

It will drown your safe world away

But It will also wash away your sins

Rudaali is a sort of clan in the state of Rajasthan in India - women mourners. When they hear the news of death nearby, they reach the home of the deceased and start to cry. They are professional mourners paid to make the family's grief appear more real. Also, their collective wailing sounds off nearby that a death has occurred. 

Q for Quarantined. 21.04.2020

N for News - 17 April

Enconsed inside the confines

Of an airconditioned car

Inside a highrise penthouse

We read newspapers

A menu of poison

Served in fragile platter

To delicate minds

Scared of getting inflicted

While the news lie on streets

Crushed and bleeding.

P for Pardon - 19 April 2020

I seek your pardon. WE seek you pardon

For our sins that we sowed each day 

We carry you to your grave today

We only have a handful of dust

Not even enough to pour on you

We lament, we cry should the wolf

Carry you away un-noticed

It rained and some more fell on you

That is when the earth shook

Earth heaved and sighed and

Your grave was full

You must have been a gift

For many lives were snuffed out

To bury you my child

I knew you would be resurrected

And come back to us as

Teresa. Mother Teresa. Mother.

O for Opium - 18 April

N for Now - 16 April

M for Maa - 15 April