Poetry at Sangam
Poetry at Sangam showcases poetry in English and translations as well as essays on poetics and news of new releases.
for tejasvani
This is a childhood / bachpana of cheap pirated DVDs,
movies dubbed in Hindi and your favourite film
– at this point – is called Hotel ke Andar ek Bandar,
alternatively: Dunston Checks In.
A childhood spent living through a political conflict
with your brother / Shubhro small enough to need
cinema comfort – this is a childhood between places,
Bahrain and Jaipur, Mumbai and so on.
A childhood spent in the gutter/naali
with curtain rods falling on tiny heads
and the dostloge / friends abandoning you for home
unable to wait it out.
A childhood spent breaking into someone’s bathroom /
bagal wala ghar, and the dhobi finding you out,
a childhood where a stranger abruptly slaps you
when you hold his granddaughter’s arm too harshly.
A childhood of Hide n Seek / chhupan chupaiyi
played with friends so sincerely that you’d rather
be rolled around in a tanki than be caught out,
a childhood of wrapping yourself in the
curtains / parda when you were sad and only letting
your mother worry the truth out of you slowly.
A childhood where that one awful time a rat nibbled
on your toes at night, until your mother finally
shooed it away – what you like to call ‘the highlights’
with your cheeky grin, in that quick way of talking
where syllables become one sound, all words
rushing into each other, not quite taking a breath.
Suddenly pausing, sharmeela bacha again,
to say: “Sorry, sorry, sorry, okay I’m done talking.”
← Urooj