Walking the Road
Pages: 52
Year of Publication: 2011
Price: HB Rs 100
ISBN:
978-93-5045-016-1 (9789350450161)
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 has lived there since. 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 and Living in Borivili were published by Writers Workshop, India in 2010. You can read more poems by him on his blog by clicking here.
Teaser:
31
Cycling Link Road, my friend
pauses under a badam tree beside
two laburnums,
observing dark, maroon leaves
styling the air to rest on a
tarred floor.
Born sturdy in a factory when cars were
scarce,
the cycle has an old soul, yet a soul,
unlike city man with an internal combustion
engine.
Except for an occasional flat tyre,
a quaint clink,
it has had no repairs.
It was the first, owned cycle in Verur village.
Father bought the cycle when my friend
passed matriculation, third class.
His mother took the cycle to the temple
for the Lord’s goodwill.
That evening, my friend took Gayatri, doubles.
Friends mocked when he cycled the city.
Changed to a Merc and drives it like a cycle.
In Verur village, cycle signalled wealth;
in the city, a nobody.
Change has not civilised any.
Contents:
31 untitled poems