PARADISE LOST

Bright blue sky, powder puff clouds pregnant with rain

Lush green grass, impatient to receive droplets of life

Little rivers from backwaters gurgle to and from the great blue sea

Coconut palms sway to the sultry warm breeze

White cotton clothes, Kalabham* on the forehead

Jasmine in her hair and a prayer on the lips

On her way to the Ambalam* she stops

To talk to her friends and peep into shops

"Guruvayoorappa*, bless us all", she prays

As she chants her Mantram* with folded hands

She’s wondering what to cook when she gets back home

And thinking about her housemaid's monetary demands

The pradarshanam* is done, the namaskaaram* too

Its time to go back to the Otthamadam*

Her neighbor is here in his fancy car

Maybe she can hitch a ride back home

She hasn’t noticed Him all around her

In every part of this wonderful paradise

She’s in Kerala, God’s own country

Blind faith in rituals of religion, this is the price

SWATI CHANDRAN

*Malayalam - Kerala's official language

* Kalabham: sandalwood paste * Ambalam : temple in Kerala *Guruvayoorappa : Lord Krishna * Mantram: Sanskrit chant / prayer, * Pradarshanam: Circling of the sanctum sanctorium by the devotees * namaskaaram: to kneel in obeisance *Otthamadam: a single house on a large plot of land in Kerala

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