Vaidehi | Nayanathara S

It is the month of karkidakam,
When the heavens open up
And swallow the earth in a thunderous gulp.
It is the time of the year,
When the sun cozily snuggles
Under the blanket of the rain-borne clouds,
And silvery snails and lazy centipedes
Take refuge in the dim-lit corners of dilapidated houses.
It is the time of the year,
When sickness spreads its ghostly dark wings
Over the young and old alike,
And death weaves a black veil over the soggy earth.  

One such evening,
When the clouds burst into a spring of tears,
An old woman; a grandmother in her late seventies,
Sat in a rocking chair in the verandah,
Reading loudly the verses of the eternal Ramayana.
On the steps leading to the vast courtyard,
Stood Vaidehi, her only daughter –
 The single mother of two,
And the lone heir to the primitive, broken house.

Now and then,
Her pensive gaze fell on the evergreen Shimshupa.

 “Is it right for a man of virtue to sacrifice his wife and children
for the sake of the society?
Did he, for once, think about his children?
Has he forgotten his responsibilities as a father?
What have I done to deserve this?
Oh! I would rather pine for death
Than lead such a hopeless, disgraceful life …”
She cried aloud, causing the seven worlds
To shudder in pain and fury.

Closing her moist eyes,
She invoked the gods to answer her plaintive cries.
But the gods were silent.
They had always been deaf and mute…

The rain lashed at the tree with renewed angst.
The branches crumbled to the ground,
Merging with the dirt and dust of a million years.
The flowers of Shimshupa withered away…
Leaving the earth and the skies,
To journey to a world beyond.

 Nayanathara S has been mentioned in several online literary journals including Kritya, Muse india and others. She bagged the ‘Young Writer’s Award’ instituted by the online literary journal, “Indian Ruminations” for her maiden anthology of poems titled ‘The Scent of Frangipani’. Her second poetry collection, ‘In the shade of the bodhi’ was recently published by the literary quarterly, Brown Critique. Her poem, ‘The Miracle Man’ has won the commendation prize in the All India Poetry Competition 2014 held by the Poetry Society of India.