A girl had fled from the village

with someneighbour´s boy for the first time

many faces in the street

had started gossiping

in ears of women looking through veils

eyes had sprouted, a father's dreams

had been swept away by time's flood

a pair of slippers lied on the quiet wall

the sound of her feet was ringing loud

for the first time a girl had fled

wearing her mother's old slippers

she had crossed the limits of honour

on the door, she had left no marks

of her rough palms covered in turmeric

for many days in the village

smoke of tobacco, bidi

rising in the squares

made the girl's bright face dark

her yellow scarf was shredded

in their stories

for months in her mother's dreams

she knocked at the door

for the first time a girl had fled

a father had been saved

from drowning in debt

the daughter's ears were far removed

from her mother's curses

a girl had fled with someneighbour's boy

for the first time.

Home utensils —

signs of ancestors

but since grandfather

has departed

these have been relegated

to the backyard —

the bronze glass

that could contain

three quarter litres

of milk

utensils

bronze plates

brass pitchers

without these

the tradition of bride giving

was incomplete

but today from oven to parandy

everywhere I see steel

my grandmother

used to knead dough

for twenty persons in one go

in big brass platter

but now

as the walls go up

in the courtyard

sizes of home utensils

are getting smaller.

Parandy :        A place in house where pitchers or other utensils filled with water are kept