Thee morning walk round my house
an half an hour it would be
a stroll under the canopy of trees
they be mango,chikku, jackfruit
along with asoka,gooseberry,naaval pazham
while around the house on all sides
there be a score of coconut palms
tall and lanky with nuts on the top
it is a little oasis amidst the concrete desert
I go about in a relaxed way
as I have noting imminent to do so to say
pick up the small black berry like fruits
called naval pazham
in my part of the world
look like big beads indigo in colour
shine in the morning sun like black beauty
they depict a pictorial phase
as they lie there on the brown ground
some half bitten and some with no flesh
gnawed and chewed by the birds and squirrels
while I collect I cross many of them
they stare at me in anger and apprehension
my domestic staff look at me with a grudge
as I gather the fruits diligently
collect them in a vessel
wash them with care not once but twice
to remove the sand on them
that lie profusely on their skin
garnish the fruits with little salt
set them aside for half an hour
the berries would absorb the salt so well
they would serve me as a dessert
the taste is beyond expression
salty and delicious all the more
with a lot of iron hidden
I eat one by one with ease
a happiness I derive not elsewhere.
Categories
Meenas Poems 