Raigarh

 

The winds of monsoon

Have a different colour.

At Raigarh

People ran helter-skelter

But we both knew

Umbrellas are best left behind

Sometimes

In Renoir’s art

 

SO, we stood alone

On a precipice

Of the fecund fort

Running amok with green;

We stood -

Staring at a waterfall

Rising up

In the convection blood

Of the monsoon winds

 

Have you ever seen a reverse Waterfall?

It will feel as if

Even the mighty stream

Of recalcitrant time

Runs backwards

Saying, here’s one more chance

Before the rains end

 

Waters gush up

And dissipate in inexistence

You smile -

‘That the rains

Return to the rains

Sometimes, even the Earth’s gravity

Is not strong enough’

 

But we both knew

Deep within

Eventually the weight of the nimbus clouds

Would land it all back

On terra firma -

A juggling act of deceit

That sometimes lone passers-by

Feel there is hope

Against hope

That time can run backwards still

 

You can cover all the sentinels

On these hills here

But to see the rains running backwards

You need something more –

The stars need to align

Not just in the heavens

 

The winds of monsoon

Have a different colour

 

Sometimes, you get lucky

You walk hand-in-hand

To find it in ephemera

Drizzling,

Dripping,

Whistling,

Singling

Here’s one more chance

Before the rains end

 

But the message gets clear

Only years later

When the rains

Have ended long ago…

 

9^th December, 2025