Biroho

 

 Biroho / Viraha 

Bengali / Hindi : The realisation of love that comes from separation

 

‘Isn’t this a beautiful city?’

I was surprised, wondrous

For the first time,

You had called Bombay beautiful

 

‘Cacophonic’, ‘populous’,

‘Claustrophobic’, ‘malodorous’

Multisyllabic words were what you used

‘Beautiful’ was not one of them

 

But after the rains,

The Sahyadris are always beautiful

You had to get awashed in the drizzle

To clear the dirt in your eyes

 

At Kanheri’s hills that day

The rains had done just that

City and soul both washed

Indigo clouds to shelter the sun

 

And all of Bombay staring back

Tall skyscrapers here, a golden pagoda there

And the giant Buddhas of Salsette

 Bestowing wisdom, that of centuries

 

Was it the Bodhisattva’s grace,

I had asked with a smile

But you kept staring at the cityscapes

Sadly shaking your head

Now, when I look back, I know

It was the distance –

Being afar, the pangs of separation

Showing you what you really loved

 

How could you solve the question

By lingering in the very page it was written

No wonder, you had to step out, back, ahead

A different page, on Kanheri hill

 

Whereupon, even the problem

Looked beautiful, bedazzling

Beauteous Bombay, magnificent Mumbai

Wrapped in your multisyllables

 

Your dalliance with the city continued

While the clouds came and went

And the suns never bothered coming to you

One in the brooding skies, another in the bygone caves

 

A different you came down the hill

A different me looked far away

At lonely embraces when all were near

And tears of aloneness when hearts were far…

 

13^th March’ 2025