My Lift Operator
Was unusually moody ,
a few days away from onam
Otherwise she is dignified with gentle ways
Always with a pleasant smile or word
For me on my busy days
On probing she said” Oh, its just that’s onam,
And alone in my basement chair
iam flooded with memories of happier times
past onams meant a house full of brothers , thier families,
and a courtyard with a welcome flower carpet for mahabali
“ Till an accident wrecked my life , she said
"oh that explained her slouching gait
there are 20 stiches on her face, her eyes has lens implants
her left leg has a steel rod, her elbow she cannot bend
through painfully expensive recontructive surgey her family gave her back her face
her expenses a unending abbyss finalling cut every human bond
Bed ridden for a year, slipping in and out of consciousness
on death's door, orphaned
Jesus walked in
through the tangled tubes and gauze
Stroked her head and said” you will be well”
And I was.”
"head injury, dementia, you might laugh but
it was Jesus , in white dhoti , whiter locks
and i can feel his hand on my head still", she said
“I cant complain”, she mused,
“I lost my life and it was given back to me.
But its onam and I am without a house or a courtyard
To lay out flowers for mahabali”. For a nair matriarch this must be hard,
But for me Mahabali was a long dead king and onam a holiday
To cook vegetarian and shop for clothes.
As I left her there amongst an assortment of bikes
The little stitched up lift operator and her tall sorrow.
Life had shaken her inside out but could not touch her heart
where a selfless banished king still lives, her love for him intact
and even in the madness she knew the sacrifice of the cross long ago
and the benevolence of the bowed trampled royal head- were one
This onam made grim with the U.P riots and Delhi verdict
My lift operator friend , fret not
If jesus of nazereth crossed religions and seas to ease your pain
Mahabali is just a few blocks away and when he visits you
To welcome him don’t bother about the flowers
All the colours of your heart will do .
