Jayanti

 

Jayanti had almost dried

Walking on the shingles, upon her river bed

I drink the warmth of the mellow sun

Watching you, alone, but far ahead

I look at the dead trees – what stark beauty

I plod into the cold shock of stream

Despite the emptiness, there was that missing charm

Buxa, a long-lost missing dream

 

I perch on a boulder,

My feet still dipped in the running waters cold

Numbed, the pain feels strangely good

Retribution? Or the redemptive joys of turning old?

When you came back, I do not know

‘I wish we could have come here soon’

I assure at least we had made it there, though very late

Dooars in a golden December’s afternoon

 

‘Maybe after monsoon was the time,’  you persist on

‘Lush jungles, the river flowing as her best’

And yet we trekked that day, didn’t we? Butterflies, tiger trail

Broken Buxa fort upon the hillside crest

You join me in the frozen river’s chill

Was it evening’s time running slow?

Jayanti still goes on, I assure, holding hands,

There was hope, as long as the river was still in flow…          

 

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The Buxa tiger reserve is one of the many highlights in the Dooars, in the foothills of the Himalaya in North Bengal. Besides the historic Buxa Fort – now dilapidated but once exchanging hands between Bhutan and Cooch Behar, and later on, serving as prison for British Indian nationalists – the hikes here are beautiful; another highlight is the turquoise Jayanti river, flanked with brilliant white shingles, lush green hills rising in the horizon. The river slows down in winter but is still an amazing spot, and has been used as backdrops for the filming of many iconic movies