From the poem The Indian Miracle

In Rohet Garh


In the high Indian skies
  float all kinds of images.
I can see Ganesh
   with an elephant's head,
     another creature with five bodies
       and only one head
   that I saw in Jodpur Jain Temple,
      which is 1,000 years old
       and is carved of marble,
        marble lace,
         and cleverly hidden in the mountains
          from the moslems.

What is the name of that creature
  with five bodies?
    I don't know.
      I have to find out.

But notwithstanding the rich imagery
   surrounding me,
     in my heart
       there is only one main image -
         of you, my love.

And this image is a lot more blissful for me
   than a thousand Indian gods.

Your image fills me up
  with such softness and pleasure
    that my soul rests and soars.

I'll stay with you for ever, my love,
  unless you forget me,
    but you don't seem to forget.

So let it be,
  whether in India
    or elsewhere in the world,
     so that we feel to be together
      even at a big distance
        making one inseparable whole
         and blessed by the Lord.




March 13, 2007





                *        *         *




I'm on board the plane
 in comparative serenity
  on my way to Bombay,
   now called Mumbai
    for the reasons
      I can't understand...

Below - stretches of land,
  unpopulated,
   just mountains and lakes.

From above
  these lakes look like lizards
    or hard corals of whimsical forms
     or some other strange creatures -
      not like normal lakes, round or oval,
       not at all.

And the rivers remind me of young sakuras
  with flexible branches,
    their trunks being almost like branches,
      as thin as the branches...

How can I describe India?
 So many words have been said
  about its striking contrasts,
   of its utmost poverty
    and overwhelming riches,
     about its temples,
      some of which
       are carved of marble
        where each column,
         each little thing
          is meant to symbolize Infinity...

But...
 has anyone said about the langoors monkeys
  who sit on the stone bridge
   hugging their babies
    on the way from Udaipur to Jodpur?

About the banyan and neem trees,
  their precious qualities,
   or about the wild peacocks
    who come in dozens with their gutteral cries
     not long before the sunset
      and make themselves at home
      in rich estates,
       the heritage property
        turned into posh hotels?

Has anyone said about the soft air
 and a mild flower fragrance
  in the Udaipur Palace
    where the bogan villia
     flowers like blossoming oleanders?

About the glittering waters of the lake
  when you sit on the Sunset Terrace
   looking at the Lake Palace,
    which pretends to be a white ship
     ready to put up its anchor,
      but will never do so?

I'm sure
 a lot has been said
  about the politeness and cordiality
   of the servants in the Palace.

But
 has anyone said
  about the joyful hospitable spirit
    of its Shriji,
     of his royal kindness and generousity
      as well as
       about his inexhaustible sense of humour?




March 16, 2007

© Copyright Слободкина Ольга (olga_slobodkina@mail.ru)