Roopali Sircar Gaur |
Travelling Tales
I am a snail....
slow moving with antennas on my head.
I carry my home on my back
travelling quietly place to place.
When evening falls
a car honks
I just curl up inside.
I am not homeless...
You see I carry my home on my back.
You can call me anytime anywhere
I won't take up your place
I have my own home on my back.
I did once think I was without a home
I did believe I had nowhere to go
And then it dawned upon me one morn
I carried on my back my own home.
The home on my back never burdens me.
It never asks me to leave.
I don't fear harsh voices
The night always is tranquil.
For a long time
I did not know
I carried my home on my back.
***
The Mango Tree
Silent and still
Its heady fragrance mocked my arrogance.
The dark green leafy coffer
could no longer hold its pink and gold offer.
Something deep inside the nectar filled tree
compelled it to give.
It seemed to know to give
Is the only way to live.
Give me shade. I will hide my spade
Give me fruits. I will not cut your roots.
Give me rain. My skin burns with hot pain.
I had bargained.
Now as I greedily sucked the juicy gold
I too could not hold
Gratitude filling my stilling heart .
I knew like the mango tree
I too must give
Or else how will I live?
Can one alone suck life’s sweetness
And not care to share?
***
Looking at the Guava Tree on a Humid August Morning
Before the rains go away
Don’t forget to plant a Guava tree
The golden fruits are for free.
While the green thick leaves hide
And you can your time bide
You will see
green red beaked
Parrots on a spree
check check check
peck peck peck
Butterflies stick
some pollen
On the fruit fallen
While merry Worms
crawl into its sweet belly
Full of pulpy jelly.
Black birds, hungry birds
and fast moving squirrels,
They would all rather
on your Guava tree gather.
Chirps and squeals
Shrill fills and sharp bills
Sudden bursts of quarrel
And then a harmonious still
Grand display of a strong will.
Don’t forget to plant
that Guava tree,the one that gives you
Golden yellow
Fruits for free.
***
Bio: Roopali Sircar Gaur, Ph.D. is a retired English professor (Sri Venkateswara college, University of Delhi), and Founder President of YUVATI, a nonprofit organisation working for adolescent girls and boys across India. Sircar Gaur also works with children from underserved communities in what she calls Mera Kitab Ghar: The Backyard Book Club she established as a pop-up book club. She also taught Creative Writing at IGNOU for many years. Sircar Gaur is a widely published columnist and writer, who has written for peer-reviewed journals, and presented papers and served on academic conference panels at Universities in the United Kingdom, Europe, the United States, Canada and India. Her book The Twice Colonised: Women in African Literature is a seminal text on those subjects. She is also the co-editor (with Anita Nahal) of the anthology, In All The Spaces-Diverse Voices In Global Women’s Poetry (2020). Sircar Gaur has traveled the world, and now lives in Meerut, India with her retired military spouse and their three dogs.
No comments :
Post a Comment
We welcome your comments related to the article and the topic being discussed. We expect the comments to be courteous, and respectful of the author and other commenters. Setu reserves the right to moderate, remove or reject comments that contain foul language, insult, hatred, personal information or indicate bad intention. The views expressed in comments reflect those of the commenter, not the official views of the Setu editorial board. рдк्рд░рдХाрд╢िрдд рд░рдЪрдиा рд╕े рд╕рдо्рдмंрдзिрдд рд╢ाрд▓ीрди рд╕рдо्рд╡ाрдж рдХा рд╕्рд╡ाрдЧрдд рд╣ै।