"kochi" poems
Did I tell you
About the poothaankiris
Who never abandoned me
Even when all others did?
They were the ones
Who woke me up today
Don’t know why
They woke me up
Calling me
The names
Of all my
Previous lives
Even I had
Forgotten
All of them
In my ninth
Life
My name
Was Shanmughan
Your name then
Was Lara
You were the daughter
Of the captain
A foreigner
From Portuguese
Who had come
To Fort Kochi
Paravoor
And Paliyath
My job then was
Counting the number
Of ships
In
The harbor
You had come
With your father
Then
To see Cochin.
Even before
The ship with you
Anchored at the harbor
Sea crows began their pageantry of joy
Whole hearted wings fluttered
Across the skies
A pandal was built
Above the waters
One
Of them
Astonished
The kids
By flying upside down
The paral fishes
Splashed around in ecstasy
Then
A ponmaan
Aroused by
The dance of the paral fishes
Dived in and out
Again
And again
In the sky of joy
As I turned back
After picking
A stalk of paddy
That had fallen from a ship
I saw the ship with you
Floating from faraway
Your face
Gazing the world
From the fifth window
Of the second deck
Lara.
The glitter of the thoda
You wore on your ear
That day
Still
Blinds my eyes
Lara,
Feel like seeing
That you and me
Of the
Ninth life
I am
Desperate.
Translator - Shyma P
Jan 19, 2016
Jan 19, 2016 at 9:40 AM UTC
It’s drizzling
But it doesn’t matter.
I am running,
Around the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium
At Kochi.
The ground is wet,
There are water patches around.
So, I take careful steps.
As I go around,
I see a young man,
In a hoodie,
And track pants.
He is talking,
On the mobile phone.
Standing beneath an awning.
Must be to his girlfriend,
Because he is smiling.
I think to myself,
‘What a wastrel. Do some exercise. Get fit’.
But he is oblivious.
During my next lap,
I see,
A friend has joined him.
‘Two wastrels’, I think,
As I start panting.
My middle-age lungs,
Are aching.
But I like the suffering,
Because it makes me feel good.
When I stop.
On my third round,
They are peeling off their track pants.
I run on..
The drizzle has eased up,
A cool breeze is blowing.
My perspiration-drenched forehead
Gets some relief.
Running triggers
Something primitive in me.
This is what man did,
For thousands of years.
Before the invention
Of the wheel.
I can hear the thud of feet
Hitting the ground
Behind me.
It sounds like heartbeats.
Then these two young men,
Whom I derided,
Whizzed past me
At high speed.
Smooth electrifying movements
Of hands and feet.
‘What?’ I exclaim silently in my head
My perception was
Oh so wrong.
They are athletes,
And they are swift.
And they splash,
Through the puddles.
Fearless.
So I had simply
Misunderstood them.
That’s what happens to all of us
We misunderstand
People.
Places.
Communities.
Religions.
Spouses.
Children.
Parents.
Relatives.
Is it any surprise,
Society is so fractured.
I feel like a fool
Message to me: don’t jump to conclusions,
Ever.
Aug 11, 2020
Aug 11, 2020 at 11:47 PM UTC