Utsav Unfolding: Rupa Anand

Rupa Anand

It’s early February heralding the spring festival of Basant Panchami at the shrine of the Sufi saint Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya in Delhi.  Walking carefully, we file past rows of tiny neon-lit shops chock-a-block with attar, flower petals, sweets, and chadors. The entire world is here. The courtyards are teeming with people on the move, an unsung choir ready to burst into song. 

 

something 

about an old dargah

the scent of roses 

 

The air is soaked in the firm belief that divine love and service to humanity are intertwined. In deference to the occasion, we’re all wearing basant or yellow. The setting sun stirs its warmth across a sea of mustard dupattas, orange blossoms and yellow prayer caps. 

 

sundown 

a thousand marigolds join

the muezzin’s call

Geeta and I are pinned to an ancient wall of the courtyard. The influx of people is endless. A BBC photographer helps Geeta up onto a wooden stool from where she gives a running commentary on the proceedings. A drone hovers overhead. 

 

their hands in prayer

Christians, Muslims, 

Sikhs & Hindus —

the sun detonates 

a million rays

 

Sanjay, from our group, is given the onerous blessing of carrying our offering of marigolds in a huge wicker basket into the inner sanctum. I feel helpless watching a heavily pregnant cat weaving through peoples’ feet. 

In the rising dark, strains of a qawwali throb through me.  I’m unwilling to break the spell as the glories of God lift me higher into an approaching indigo sky. A Sufi saint rests between then and now.

 

twilight —

I walk slowly amidst

lengthening shadows 

 

2.

no more tears

no more tears

for the third girl child 

cradle songs

3. 

the sound of temple bells

the sound of temple bells 

from her kanjivaram sari

wedding ceremony

***

BIO: Rupa Anand is a Touchstone Award and Pushcart Prize nominated poet and spiritual seeker. Her poetry is honoured regularly by national and international poetry journals. Her book To the Edgeless Sky and Back (chronicling her cancer journey), a critically acclaimed collection of haiku and related short forms was published in July 2024. She lives in New Delhi with her beloved cats, aspiring to garden more, travel light and tune in to birdsong more often.

---

Setu, May 2025