Mumbai: random thoughts

I’ve been unable to do much all day. I’m not an obsessive television watcher and deliberately did not switch on the tv. But there’s a surfeit of information right here on the Internet and not knowing felt worse than knowing too much. Also, suddenly, a lot of other things seemed trivial: deadlines, applications, regular things. [...]

Darling

The tree outside is dead.
Unhand me, will you? My bones
melt in the heat when I go out
in the afternoon sun.
Look how crows have replaced the leaves.
Their silent, alert eyes fix me.
They have me down as someone
who fails continually
to understand the simple things.
That water boils.
That one is alone.
That there are things one cannot bear.
They know I [...]

Chasing Cars (i)

The road glistens like fine silk,
grey and silver, an old sari
hung out to dry
on that familiar line
loping into the distance–
my insatiable need for a
different place.
I squint at water,
slide grief and hope
back and forth
across the smoky windshield.
***
This picture was taken from inside the car on a rainy afternoon while travelling down East Coast Road near Chennai.

A tough language

Jeanette Winterson on poetry:
So when people say that poetry is merely a luxury for the educated middle classes, or that it shouldn’t be read much at school because it is irrelevant, or any of the strange and stupid things that are said about poetry and its place in our lives, I suspect that the people [...]

The comfort of strangers. And animals.

I was in Malaysia recently, working (well, sort of) at a golf resort in Johor and then holidaying in KL. The first part of my trip went off smoothly but the excitement started when I reached KL. A close friend who lives in KL had left the keys to her apartment for me with her [...]

Still Life

Peach
heavy on my palm.
Its hard-knot,
rattling heart muffled
by flesh I want to pierce.
Its skin
soft as felt, smooth as
unshaven down
on bare arms, dust on
butterfly wings.
Its in-between colour –
less than orange
not quite pink,
ambiguous
like brown.
Apples, pears and plums
are cool against the
cheek, but a peach
is warm.
***
Sunflowers
Their brown hearts shrivel
easily. They seethe in their skins
with the patience of
stalkers. In Van Gogh’s [...]

i-magic

Here are the long overdue pictures of Pondicherry.

The view from the seafront restaurant at hotel ‘The Promenade’

A Pondicherry cop waddling smartly across the street

Sunlight filtering through the Big Banyan near the Matri Mandir at Auroville

…and another view of the Big Banyan

A bohemian restaurant and art studio called Le Space in the French part of town

A [...]