INGRESS
Bedazzle
gradually unaware spirit,
Story
generation back rural lives,
Born
in upper cast childhood pretty,
Accompanied
grandfather in evenings,
A
small cottage on the village road ends,
Straw
mattress mud walls painted,
A
kerosene lamp on a wooden desk,
Burning
bright, lighting the book,
Wooden
pedestal for a large book,
Cover
red-cotton of the book tied.
Grandpa
sits near the wall at a height,
An
elevated platform with a mattress,
Senior
villagers, women elders,
Sit
in a semi-dark room separated,
All
sing with grandpa prayers first,
Silence
covered with book worshipped,
Scented
stick perfumed lit spread,
Quiet
evening dark ingresses sanctity,
Silent
people, I observed all,
Before
us, they were looking calmly,
Mahabharata
eighteen books to be read,
Started
the first book, simple poems,
In
the native language, simple stories,
Grandpa
orates hymns lyrical sweetly,
I
listen to stories intricate entwined,
There
was suspense, thrill, pleasure,
One
chapter of each book to be read,
Grandpa
explained in simple,
The
meeting used to be over in hours,
With
lantern lit, we move home,
While
sleeping heard the story again,
Grew
up much later, recollecting teenage,
Knew
Mahabharata, Ramayana well,
Myth
for some, true philosophy,
Human
life complex time is a spider,
Weaving
nets trapped killed many,
Plays
greed, anger, ego, and envy nicely,
Family
trees generations widen long,
Grandson
to great grandfather narrates,
Birth,
childhood, education, marriage,
Narrated
ancient aspirations, lust,
Kingdom,
gold, horse, elephant, sword,
Arrows,
battles, king won or defeated,
The story describes generation-wise,
Ended
eighteen books a royal race,
Kauravs,
a race that prospered, fought,
Brothers,
the war was the Mahabharata,
Time
erased everybody, wiped the race,
The
last king was bitten by a snake,
He
died knowing forefathers fought,
Fought
for an inch, died most,
Time
wiped out the race of cowherd-boy,
Avatar,
considered was killed,
Teaching now a grandfather to kids,
Sat
eagerly listening to my story,
Ingress
clearly winkling, surprised,
Grandkids
were asking me the point,
Disbelief
in their eyes was socked,
Grandpa,
an inch of land war broke!
Calmly
I was confirmed, yes dear,
It
never could ingress for millennia,
Human
races much wiped out,
Again
and again, Mahabharata begins,
Different
time, name, and place happens,
Same
was dear time erases all,
Claimant
contester all get wiped out,
Land
even an inch questions humans,
Eraser
the time, a fact, ingress belies.
@
Bijayananda Mishra
