By Sivakami Velliangiri
The girl caught in a dream threw off her bedspread in response to chords rattling somewhere in her brain, feet unfurling, feeling the floor foot after foot as if it were school time but where was her school bag?
She walked as if urged along by an inner deity, as if the yakshis*, those malevolent spirits, carried for her trays of paddy grains, tender coconuts, lamps, zari*.
Sometimes a girl thinks she is in good company but what were the Saptha Kannis* doing? It was only dusk, the midnight jasmines bloomed, snakes plaited themselves like couples. Maybe it is all trickery of Kuttichatan*. Who has ever seen him?
Something must have snapped. Half asleep half awake, she bolted upright and walked and walked till her feet felt their own blisters.
Why were all the household people snoring like porcupines, when she had reached the doorstep of her school?
In the morning, they would tell her all about it. They would even ask if she had any unfinished homework.
Sometimes we walk not knowing our destination or purpose-- sometimes, great men in history like the Buddha just walked, until they found their tree.
*Yakshi—female nature spirits
*Zari—thread made of silver or gold
*Kuttichatan – a portly spirit from Malabar lore
*Saptha Kannis – the seven embodiments of Shakthi, the Mother Goddess
Sivakami Velliangiri has been included among the women poets in the History of Indian Writing in English (1980). She has a chapbook, In My Midriff, and her debut poetry book is How We Measured Time. Her poems appear in The Penguin Book of Indian Poets (2022).
.
PLEASE NOTE: ARTICLES CAN ONLY BE REPRODUCED IN OTHER SITES WITH DUE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT TO BORDERLESS JOURNAL
Click here to access the Borderless anthology, Monalisa No Longer Smiles
Click here to access Monalisa No Longer Smiles on Kindle Amazon International
Borderless 