Saffron

Saffron, the basanti
    tilak on my forehead, my deity, my hymn,
    Bhagat Singh's revolution song, ancient
    blood kneaded into dusty yellow country,
Saffron, the kesari
    party politics, riot flags, languages of rift,
    Kashmir's spicy blossom, refugee Pandit's dream,
    the hue of green couplets set ablaze
Saffron
    the Vande Matram chanting throng,
    Vivekanand's oration, Tulsi's song,
    the list of rituals forgotten,
Saffron
    doubts of Iqbal, Zinnah, Zia,
    murderers of Hindus, Sikhs, Muslims,
    Sufi ‘Vivek’ in Islamic rhyme,
Saffron, basanti
    my motherland's saree, grief,
    my father's anxiety, belief,
    and my unrequited prayers,
Saffron, kesari
    memory of partition, of Rajput valor,
    of Bhakti, of Shakti, Sadhvi's pallor,
    of Himalayan dawns, of desi springs,
Saffron, kesar
    of the secular kheer, cooked
    in a earthen pots. Mango dessert.
    Jalebi, so sweet that this
Saffron
    make me happy and sick, so sick,
    and yet when I live far away, I miss
    its stain, its shriek, its smell, its spirit.


FIRST PUBLISHED IN MUSE INDIA