Perundevi
A seventy-year-old woman
who was never allowed to leave home
visits a park in the centre of town
she sits on a broken wooden bench
basking in the warmth of the morning sun
around the park
residents of the neighbourhood
walk at a brisk pace
they are careful
to leave a six-foot gap
they avoid looking at one another
the woman gazes up
sees a few familiar crows
hovering overhead
to them she complains
for some days now
her daughter-in-law leaves her half-starved
she says
the daughter-in-law
doesn’t go to her office these days
“my son is an idiot”
she mutters
as she keeps talking
the crows descend swiftly
on the ground
they stare at her hands
which hold nothing
she is still complaining
they are in a hurry
a crow climbs onto a cheek
and pecks at it
it is joined soon by another
her two hands as they try
to drive them away are ripped
by two other crows
the walkers in the park are still walking
each keeping a distance
of six feet from the others
six feet away
the crows are preparing
to eat their meal
………………………..
This poem was originally written in Tamil and was translated to English by N Kalyan Raman.
Kalyan Raman is a Chennai-based writer and translator. His translation of CS Chellappa’s novel Vaadivaasal (Arena) has been published by Oxford University Press. This poem was first published in the scroll.in
