I still remember the girl!
Once when the faint drizzle
And tender greenery made friendship
I saw her humbly walking hugging the books
Down the Jamun-trees alley;
At the Andhra University out-gate, many times
I saw her giving her hoarse voice chorus to Gaddar’s song;
She used to sit all alone near the
Martyr’s memorial at Boddapadu every year;
Later I saw her dried up meandering hand
In slogans in red-orpiment on the University walls;
She finally settled somewhere in Sultan Bazar
Brittle … Along with the recycled newspapers …
For long, she was not seen anywhere.
Then I saw her briefly the other day
She looked as downy as the plume of a peacock to the eye.
She was looking seriously at somebody in thick eye-glasses.
Whether it’s her ideal or action or a rifle
Something was slinging over her shoulder
Through the green canopy of woods under the sky
I saw her walking briskly
Along the cool footways … like my alter ego.
Before I could herald my words of caution
She came back with the news of the jungle,
Sat by me and started narrating their sagas.
She said that she planted seeds, and
Blew the bellows for the fire-pits.
And said, the harvesting season would begin soon.
When I tried to feel her tenderly
I found her hands bruised
And her legs crushed…
She displayed her private parts
For me to behold…
What I saw was an overwhelming abuse
Of her dignity by the plundering rich
When I was wailing my heart out
She laughed at me jeeringly and asked
“Why would you wail for yourself?”
Looking into my eyes with a smile
And tapping my throbbing heart with her finger
As if to say I was still alive,
She disappeared.
.
Rama Sundari
(In Tribute to Sruti who was encountered recently in Warrangal)
- B. Ramaa Sundari
స్పందించండి