By Kajoli Krishnan
A HOME TO BELONG
You and Me,
Tucked away in the quiet
Side street,
Close to where I
Once lived,
The Beauty Salon
Was sparkling clean,
Lined in the front
With potted plants
That looked
Cared for and green.
Old country music
Played inside.
The gentle drone of
A shaver,
The snap of a scissor
--Were the only
Other sounds
As the tresses
Softly touched the floor.
I still remember
That pre-pandemic year,
When Kevin,
My hairdresser
From the far eastern
State of Manipur
Had said to me,
How much he
Loved his life
And work
In Bangalore,
A city that
Opens its arms
To so many
From all across.
Today as my
Salt and pepper
Sprays on the floor,
Kevin, the Naga
The husband
Of a young bride
Father of a baby girl
Yearns for his home,
His mother and father,
Siblings and his own,
The hills and the vales
Of what is now
A tortured land
Torn with strife
Amongst Meitei and Kuki-Zo,
Two thousand miles away
In the far eastern
State of Manipur.
Jobs are few and far
Says he,
There are few means
To make a decent living
Back in my town.
So, in Bangalore
I must stay and work,
Even as I pine
For those I love,
Those I was forced
To leave behind.
Those like Kevin
Who travel far
For fulsome work
And money to earn
Vacation is a time
To visit the place
They still think
Of as home.
When there is war
And peace is gone
Where is their home?
Where do they belong?
NATIVE
Ride along a country road,
Hike over a hill,
Thirty minutes in a Metro rail,
Or an hour and a half in the
Traffic of Bangalore,
A myriad of means
To get to the haven
That we call home.
But for those
Who leave behind
Their land,
Bonds of a family,
The language they speak,
The rituals that weave
Through the fabric
Of what had been,
Their daily routine,
Does home remain
An eternal wish?
I may not ever know
For I have no village
To return to.
I belong at once
To no place and every place
A Native
At home.
Kajoli Krishnan was born in the Shimla hills of India. She descended at the age of two and thereafter remained consigned to plains and plateau. Kajoli is a Physicist by training and has been an active researcher for four decades. She loves to read and write; cares for Nature and cherishes liberty.
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