Saturday, June 30, 2012

Light-Hearted

The drops make random
mirrors on dark lanes,
reflecting pretty n bare faces
I took detours to meet.
Some from college,
many from that school
locked behind an iron curtain;
deliberate, by the bay very much.

Ageing, ancient lights, 
shivering with the monsoon winds, 
led me through empty paths
long after sun and power grids
ignored this shore for yonder.
Like those prodigal sons,
who fight battles, to find their feet on
shifting dunes and waters.

Some beacons remain,
those old boys selling pot,
kids pimping art and bowls of 
hot soup of marinated fish;
some stale, a few fresh;
guarded by tired men,
who are born naturals
in front of the lens.

So are these Chinese nets
and the yellow fever
across the channel,
the new order, from a newer world;
rude and shouting lights,
louder than the collective groans
of dead sailors and dying evangelist teens
in and around the Dutch Cemetery.

MODERN GHOSTS: Lights from the LNG Terminal at Puthuvypu across
the channel  captured from Fort Kochi Beach
GREEN AT HEART: A restaurant winding up the day's business near the
Park at Fort Kochi


OPEN DINNER: Chariot restaurant at Princess Street

OLD WINE IN NEW BOTTLE:
The bunglow of Koder Family, the most
prominent business family in Kochi. It
has now been converted into a heritage
hotel. My grandparents used to work
for the Koders and I have run around
this bunglow, playing and studying
during my school days 

PARK n DINE: The Koder House entrance bang opposite the Park
in Fort Kochi

Bung-love: One just can't help but fall in love with the Koder Bunglow.

OPEN HOUSE: The doors of Koder Bunglow, a welcome sign

RED SIGNAL: The night lights give a reddish hue to the house at the start of
Princess Street, even as the whittish glow from the Delta Study school is
visible in the bottom left corner 

NIGHT WATCHMEN: It was 10 in the night and the duo here had their fish
shack open. Perhaps waiting for some late-night customers preferring fresh
catch for dinner

HANDLE WITH CARE: Some of the evening's catch goes into the freezer

MUTE WITNESS: More snaps from the fish stall

NET PROGRESS: The Chinese fishing nets clicked with lights
from the new Container Terminal at Vallarpadom across the channel as
the backdrop

OLD WORLD, NEW CHARM: Chinese fishing nets revel in the
modern industrial light from the Container Terminal

FUELLING A DESIRE: The petrol bunk at Fort Kochi right next to the channel.
This is where fishing boats as well as vehicles fill fuel here. The channel
and the container terminal is visible in the background. Was tempted
to jump in for a late-night swim. 

STREET FOOD: The 'Thattu Kada' opposite Fort Kochi boat Jetty

LONE RANGER: My brother Leo on his cycle heading home after our
little night photography experiment using his new SLR camera

EYE OF THE TIGER: The resident alpha cat of the fish shacks near
Fort Kochi beach

Saturday, June 23, 2012

Hide n Seek


Hiding between clean,
ironed linen;
I delay the inevitable,
blocking the pouring love from
pals, aunts and the known skies here,
from touching those
few faded yellow pages
of a kindergarten colouring
book I kept safe 
between quantum mechanics notes,
biographies, Playboys and some
paperbacks I’m yet to open...


I fear that bond
and its strength to
seep through the tiny
pores of my now
thickened hide and into my heart,
holding it home, sweet home.
Away from the dust and storms
I seek now... Shalt receive now!

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Cloak Work

The cold cloak I wear,
the one I drenched in sweat
playing ball in my last
Madras summer heat,
to mask the stench of emotions
which will rise still,
to make me cry tonight
when I step out
from one cell to another,
a measured move in life.

Wow, this is new from my man!
Novel also is this detachment
I wore to work,
but the attachments, the roots,
bring me down each time
I look up from my seat...
Memories, printed in RGB
on the faded, yellow ceiling.




 - Written on my last day as a journalist at The Times of India, Chennai.