Living in Borivili
Pages: 48
Year of Publication: 2010
Price: HB Rs 150, FB Rs 100
ISBN:
HB 978-81-8157-983-6 (9788181579836)
FB 978-81-8157-984-3 (9788181579843)
About the Author:
P. Devarajan was born on June 26, 1947 in Kottarakara Village (Kollam district). Soon afterwards, his family moved to Calcutta where he grew up. In 1970 he moved to Mumbai and he continues to live there. He has worked as a business journalist with The Times of India, Business Standard, Financial Express and The Hindu’s Business Line. He takes a strong interest in wildlife and ecology and has written articles on environmental concerns facing India for The Hindu. Devarajan’s Some Poems 2009 was also published by Writers Workshop in 2010. You can read more of his poems on his blog by clicking here.
Teaser:
My generation
An old friend of mine (now, no more),
talked of scary night walks
across farmlands from Pindi to Delhi,
on shaking, unshod feet
at the head of a family of 18 women and children.
They smoked with hatred, soiled with blood –
anybody, everybody, nobody.
It was not a time to be born,
but born we were, my generation,
not into any nation.
We were not fated, we were our fate.
Fix bare, apartment-sized hearts
with TV and Internet;
switch on the mobile, turn off the neighbour.
Never appreciate the soaring crested hawk eagle
nor the knock of the house sparrow on the window sill.
On auspicious days buy gold bars at bank counters;
climb into cars, nudge a few trees and the poor
off the roads;
self we realize in selfishness;
despair,
when reminded of an old man’s discount sales of
custom-made hearts baked in love;
built Rajghat when two bullets put him down.
Not a cigarette butt of honesty we own,
the mean generation,
scrawling a future in the air with
ballpoint pens.
Contents:
36 poems