By Kala Krishnan Ramesh
Grandfather,
how is it that
she is
allowed to miss the point
all the time?
We say,
Come to the king’s celebrations
and
she says
I don’t know the king, I will
feel strange
in the assembly.
Everybody knows the king,
grandfather,
we have to know the king,
he keeps us safe and
well-contented;
how can
she say
I don’t know him at all.?
Grandfather,
why is it that
she is
allowed to miss the point
all the time?
Does she
know the god on Palani?
And yet
she calls
him My Lord and sings his
praises
day in and day out.
And does she get
anything out of it? No, not
a thing. Besides,
Everybody knows
the king, grandfather,
how can
she say
I don’t know him at all?
Grandfather,
why is it that
she is
allowed to miss the point
all the time?
If she can
hear the god speaking from
up on top
of the holy
hill, why can’t she hear the
king
saying Come to the assembly
to celebrate our kingdom’s
might and see your father
being honoured?
Everybody listens to
the king, grandfather,
how can
she say
I don’t know him at all?
Grandfather,
why is it that
she is
allowed to miss the point
all the time?
We say
the king is our god, you must come
and
she says
I can’t leave my work, I have
to finish
these hundred verses before
he comes down from the hill.
Grandfather,
we know he does not visit
mortals, so how can
she say
I know him so well?
Grandfather,
why is it that
she is
allowed to miss the point
all the time?
We know
that one day we may see the point
of
all this.
Perhaps she’s put us in a poem
and when
He reads us, he might call and
then we too will know his wish.
Grandfather,
we will then forget the turning
world, and after, how can
we not say
“We don’t know the king at all.”
Grandfather, actually
we know
why she is
allowed
to miss the point
all the time.
Kala Krishnan Ramesh is a Bangalore-based poet. Her new collection features numerous characters who are poets and Murugan, the god who loves language and poetry.
Photo credit: Aptmetaphor