The Garden Circa 1987

I don't believe I have written any poetry since the beginning of the present decade. At one point, it was an obsession and a lot of it was imprecise rhymes. Some of it was simply a recordal of the events of my life; a large part of it was doggerel written for the amusement of my friends (needless to add they had star parts). I keep things I write because reading it many years later helps recapture a long forgotten mood.

My grandmother is now 82, our relationship much changed from when she visited my student hostel in 1987 for my graduation ceremony. Reading this poem again reminded me of her view of education as a state of purity. Her feel for flowers, fragrances, the neatness of her person. And it also reminded me of the courtyard around which our rooms were laid out. Here the tulsi grew wild and fast, in this it was a lot like the girls in the hotel. But to my grandmother it was a signal that auspicious things are found where Saraswati resides. As for the white ghostly blooms that grew in abundance and had their own distinct perfume, they are the "sontakka" (picture below). I can never pass one without recalling one of the happier times of my life.

THE GARDEN

My grandmother stands and observes

The careless, vagrant growth of basil

As under a morning sun that enerves

Flowers slowly unfold to dazzle.

In the evening, the scent of flowers

Hangs heavy over the rooms

In the fading light my grandmother hovers

Over white, ghostly blooms.

She has now spent many years

Coaxing growth in several plants

Urging life, gently wiping fears

Catering to every whim, fancy, want

Yet they reward her with hesitant buds

Or an occasional bloom that delights

Today she is wistful that here life floods

Unheralded, uncared, impervious to slight

In my room, she falls to musing

"This soil is imbued with learning

And innocence, chastity, desire fusing

Fill this air, this soil with yearning".

Thus consoled, she now returns

And thinks perhaps her garden could

bloom if her ancient bones relearn

The lessons of her past girlhood.

1994

~*~

Image Source