Satyendra Srivastava
Return to the Late Mr. Aiyer’s Café
In this neat corner
Of Lanka Varanasi
The evening is not the same today
Nor the winter smoke
The fillings in Dosas are different too
Less coriander leaf
And mustard seed
But the chilli is sharper
So is the loneliness
And the roars of past silence
Where once was the unruly garden of the deity
Behind whose bushes Krishna played his hypnotic flute
And maids danced to his rhythm
Today harsh concrete and four storey buildings
TV antennas and telephone wires
Crossroad signs
And the dreams lying on a high raised pavement
A corpse waiting to be carried forward
The procession in the making
Affection was once a ladder here
Every upward dream a game of indulgence
Everyone’s searching eyes
Stories untold
Dreams actions with no holds barred
And Mr. Aiyer’s café the land of karma
Now outside this air-conditioned environment
I see over the uncountable moving heads
A road stretching nowhere
And there is a pathway
Returning within me
To my unknown territory
Which could never draw a charted path
Now a memory
And on both sides of this memory lane
In front of the café
There is a new route to the temple
Where the beggars still sit
But now under the shade
And the priests chant for a better tomorrow
And here I am searching for myself
Once more where it all began
Long long ago
In Mr. Aiyer’s café
Lanka Varanasi
My home town
Page(s) 101-102
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