Brian Mendonca
CNN IBN
Thunder Down Under --
India -Australia match
Modi wins by slender margin--
Gujarat polls.
Taming the Dragon --
Indo-Chinese forces
Embrace at Tawang.
Super Sunday --
Arsenal beat Chelsea 1-0
Bomb blast at Imphal--
7 dead in bus proceeding to Imphal.
(Dimapur 2005)
At yet another reading of poetry organized by Vasco Watch and the mercurial Commander Narayanan and Janani, poetry lovers read their lines at the Narayanan residence last Sunday. The exquisite, intimate space at Ranghavi estate, Bogmallo road, Goa seemed perfect to wax eloquent as the rain outside provided the score. Janani served up hot pakoras and steaming cups of coffee -- this could only be 'Coffee with Kavita'! -- an event organized by VW to promote poetry and the writing of verse. The exuberance was infectious as after I read my poems I couldn't help picking up the forlon guitar in the corner and strum the good old Konkani dulpods opening with Undra Mhojea Mama. At which point all who could shake a leg, did!
On request from the audience I read my poem 'An Evening in Paris' (on this blog) written for Queenie as we romanced by Worli sea face, Mumbai. The title is taken from the name of a perfume she was wearing at the time which provided an example of what could be the sources of inspiration of a poet. A poem was requested on Orissa. I acknowledged that though I had visited the place I had not written a poem yet and was not going to force it. For:
To force the pace, and never to be still
Is not the way one studies birds --
or women
The best poets wait for words.
-Nissim Ezekiel
I dwelt on irony in 'CNN IBN' where a foreign news channel pays scant regard to a bomb blast in the North East in its reportage in Dimapur. I ended with 'Deep South' -- my poem rooted in Mahabalipuram, Coimbatore and Bangalore which had Janani promising to serve me 'rice on a banana leaf' -- one of the lines in the poem. What else does a poet need?!
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All poems from A Peace of India: Poems in Tansit (New Delhi: Self-published, 2011); Pix taken at 'Coffee with Kavita' at the Narayanan residence, Ranghavi Estate, Bogmallo Road, Goa on Sunday 26 October 2014.
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