Widows in Kashi1
Sudeep Ghosh (Visva Bharati University, Santiniketan, West Bengal, India)
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For alms
Their way-worn eyes
Flicker in dry sockets
Faces, puckered
Cold-reddened with hunger
Voices rattle
Like wheels on rugged tracks
Veined hands
Quake as they wheeze forth:
“Babu, paise!”2
An odour of the Grim Reaper
Grimes their white dhoti3
They are flung into bed
At nailed-shut kholi4 of tradition
As voodoo priests feed on
Like vultures on carcasses
A fleet of feet
Struts along the Visvanath gali5
In the city of light
If only they woke up
To the ‘light’ within!
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1 Varanasi, the holy city of India.
2 “Sir, a paisa!”…3 Indian sari.…4 Chubby-hole.
5 Visvanath Lane.
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Sudeep Ghosh is a PhD scholar at Visva Bharati University, Santiniketan, West Bengal, India. He teaches ‘Creative Writing in English’ at Kodaikanal International School, Tamil Nadu, India.
