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II

for Thodti trailing barefeet his dried coconut-stick broom on cracked macadam
in the gutter festering oozing fresh month-old drying turds urine remains of fed-up banana-leaves skins withered jasmine garlands drained motor-oil from scooter-taxis overfed flies lean stray kids fowl cows
        all that was wonder from afar
            magic mythic mystery the lingo of gods on earth
the brahmin vegetarian clattering-pans over order shouting eating-hotels
as though the heavens deigned to camp down on his doorstep
   derailed on their celestial inter-galactic circuit

his mind if he cared to exercise one was of little use to him
nor were they to his ancestors
called upon only to clean the bottoms off those who
shat upon his forefathers for ages
his only use for his intelligence
is to know his place
  minus the alphabet
     minus arithmetic
         minus the patinenkilkkanakku
              minus the grandold Vedic mystic gods and rishis
minus the right to think for himself

only the dullard’s right to die daft dull damned
      and be reborn in the womb of ignorance

So much for your Godly advice Charioteer Krishna
For don’t Gods only talk to Gods on Earth

Detach yourself first then
                                       KILL
Do not feel for those you kill

For what lofty ideal the Mahabharatha
        pitted mythically gambling polyandrous cousins

Is India today a magical-realist myth
      or a cranking up Indo-Pak Armageddon

Sattva Rajas Tamas

       Sattva      Rajas      Thodti

Notes

Sattva: pure intelligence and goodness
Rajas: impure mental energy and restless passion
Tamas: dullness and inertia

Blodok or belodok (also beluduh): Malay for large-eyed goby, found in tropical or
equatorial muddy flats
Gopuram: the tiered, sculptured towers over the main entrances to Hindu temples
Kannagi: heroine of the medieval Tamil epic Cilappatikaram
Kolusu: ornamental anklet chains with bells worn by Tamil women
Kunkumam: saffron ( yellow or red) powder serving as adornment marks of
                     auspiciousness on women’s faces
Patinenkilkkannakku: the traditionally collective name for eighteen Tamil classical
      works
Tali: usually gold chains worn by married Tamil women round the neck or tumeric-
            stained cords in lieu of
Thodti: a caste name for Night Soil Men

© T.Wignesan May 26/27, 1997 Revised June 2002 Paris From the sequence/collection: “Words for a Lost Sub-Continent”.
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