The Grand Inquisitor
Shukra aka Morningstar (Mumbai, July 2012)
He took me to a place hanging loosely in the stratosphere and he showed me the kingdoms of the earth in splendour, sealed with blood. But, he was only a shadow. He was not the Prince of Darkness and he didn't ask for my soul. On this day in July, blood looms bigger than faith. My mustard seeds have lost their fragrance. They're scalded as if the mustard oil had been left unattended. It is time to look for other flavours, says the earth, athelas, sanjivni, valerian root ... But something inside me whispers, even burnt mustard will suffice.
Katya and Grushenka (Mumbai, 2013/2014)
Red velvet in my hands holding you in my heart until the end. Unwoven strands of present tense, wasted, swirling. In the basin of the night, the veiled Mistress smiles gently. "Patience, my love." They will find you when their time comes. You'll be ready red velvet in your hands.
Strange Days (Mumbai 2013/2014)
She gave me an address and instructions on the way to get there but I was blindfolded a hand covering my eyes, my face, my mouth she had been there before it seems she seems confident of the path she takes strange loops of glamor underneath the full moon's light opening the trees like curtains in a well-rehearsed production scenes edited like history delivered as only-begotten children once having entered must exit through ways predestined never to be born again anew.
And After All the Tea and Cakes and Ices (Patna, 2003)
That's all, your Honour! no more witnesses today. The stars are dull. Look in my eyes every question wraps around my irises like a solenoid you are magnets, held to black pinpoints look, how you tremble locked inside your iron will. Laugh with the Fool he has forgotten the Footman the settled dust of memory awaits the coming of a deeper night.
The Kiss – Heathcliff and Catherine (Mumbai, November 2014)
A smog of memory breathes droplets shimmer in November's lamplight a million moths crawl across the chasm conversations thicken into zero watt serial patterns Lips lock into lips Spirit locks in human Human twines into Spirit Warp drive to Stars' End He lives on Sowing bullet seeds The majesty of willing life-in-death Fusion in Absolute Zero
The Peasant’s Verdict, Through a Glass Darkly (Mumbai, June 2007)
An enemy is only a mirror that reflects a few stains on a dress that doesn't fit. Sometimes I snap the threads that seem to hold it together and there are times when it hangs so loosely that I am utterly shapeless an amorphous mess spreading out like something sticky into spaces where I dare not venture. But when the bugle calls I look into the mirror and I fit myself into the soldier's uniform to give those stains a chance to belong. That when my peace comes back to me I will not be distracted from my joy by those naive remarks that fall upon some stupid little stain.
The references to The Brothers Karamazov (Fyodor Dostoyevsky) are too numerous to mention. Strange Days is a song by The Doors. The Footman and the cakes and tea and ices are taken from The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T.S. Eliot. Stars’ End is a reference to the Second Foundation by Isaac Asimov. Heathcliff and Catherine are from Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte). Athelas is from The Lord of the The Rings (J.R.R. Tolkien). The other references need not be cited because they fall well outside the purview of any copyright laws.
