Homeward Bound

- Brian Mendonça

Rats in the Rajdhani,
Poha for breakfast
A mouthful of milk powder
with morning tea.
Ace of Base, Angel Eyes
‘I’m a weekend husband’ says Mr Bhalla.
Fenel for Pune, catwalk ramp
Spice Jet 257 takes to the skies
Bread crumbs of St. Anthony
Corpus Christi at St. Pats.
Baby Maegan plays
with Winnie the Pooh.
Due, DU, dew or Diu
The geek makes his first impression.
Near Arthur Road jail
Kasab takes a bow.
Happy times, ‘Pee peep, pom pom’
At Eucress building, Wadala
In a flat gone to seed
An old and lonely man sings . . .
‘Don’t forget the old folks at home
Though their old and grey
Each night they pray
For you.’

(Delhi-Pune-Mumbai
12-16 June 2009 )

Notes ' Homeward Bound': Song by Simon and Garfunkel; Rajdhani: 2953 August Kranti Rajdhani from Mumbai Central to Nizamuddin; milk powder: a habit of the poet as a child; 'Angel Eyes' by Ace of Base: One of the songs played by a young woman on her laptop in the Rajdhani; Fenel: Name of the Spice jet aircraft; St Anthony: His feast day was celebrated at his shrine at Pune Camp on 13 June; St. Pats: St. Patricks Cathedral in Pune; Maegan: 1-year-old neice of the poet; DU: Delhi University; Diu: a proposal from Diu; geek: (here) a boring intellectual; Kasab: accused in the 26/11/08 Mumbai terrorist attack, housed in Arthur Road jail; 'Pee peep, pom pom': Uncle Edgar (87) used to say this cheerily to announce his arrival when we were kids.