Ode to the Pickle

Seasoned in its own juices salt chilli and spices. Deep red. Colour of wine or blood? Among temptations, next to lust, it tops the Devil's list.

Ode to the Pickle

Munnar

Picture courtesy: Unsplash.com They were blasting rocksand rebuilding the roadso the traffic stood stillto resume in the evening.The Tatas and Harrisons ownedthe tea estates and the shantyload of workerswho lived downhill.Months later, many of themwould have a mass burialin a spasm of mudslides.Roadside eateries grilledfish from the dam.Terraced gardens looked exactlylike paintings seen in galleries.Pigmy …

Beaver Dams

Picture courtesy: Getty Images The beaver-built dams are wise beyond imagining. They keep just the water they need for the winter. The river doesn’t change its course and beavers downriver are not left high and dry because a beaver built a dam. The trees they gnaw down regrow. A beaver never lost his land because …

The English Professor

In memory of my esteemed colleague, Prof. N. Santhalingam, who passed away on January 22, 2022 Levity, at all times, tinged with delectable malice added extra spice. Have you gone in search of stranger climes?   You were bred on Eliot, Shakespeare and Laforgue, but ought to teach the intricate graph of literary thought to …

The migrant workers of India and other poems

Inkspire brought out three of my poems in its 2020 Winter collection. https://www.inkspiremag.com/2020/11/poetry-migrant-workers-and-other-poems.html. Thanks Shweta for the publication. The migrant workers of India The train they wanted to ride home rode over them. Dry rotis, torn flip-flops were all that was left of them. Besides, of course, their mangled dreams. They were spawned when the …

To My Brethren

A once proud people, out of step with time, find themselves labelled as architects of crime. Excess love bewildered them. They took tyranny for order, and became pawns to every scheming leader. In bad, unrhymed verse I tell them, Brothers, half the curse is our own making. Let the winds of reason and freedom blow …

விட்டுச்சென்றவை

Picture courtesy: http://www.eduvidya.com கிரிக்கெட் காலனி ஆதிக்கத்தை சரித்திரமாக்கும் செங்கல் மாளிகைகள் ஊனமான ஜனநாயகம் புகைவண்டித் தடங்கள் பிளவுபட்ட நாடு தினமும் நம் வாயில் கிடந்து அவஸ்தைப்படும் ஒரு புறம்போக்கு மொழி (ஆங்கிலத்தில் இருந்து மொழியாக்கம்) http://www.amazon.in/Mamallapuram-Other-Poems-Nazir-Ali/dp/1494746484

The Barber

Carrying the tools of his trade my boyhood barber came to our home to settle an atavistic score. My mother thought that the money he’s paid and the hair that he removed must balance each other out. Using sheep-shearing scissors and a rusty blade he gouged out the hair from our innocent scalps leaving us …

The Night Shop

Pondicherry, now called Puducherry, was dotted with eateries located right on the pavements and rickety chairs and tables notwithstanding, a steady stream of customers waited to be served. Sizzling parottas, egg parotas, dosas hot from the frying pan and a melange of curries - all spicy and tangy - chicken, mutton or prawn, you name it …