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The Kunduli Girl

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I was walking home from school Running along, skipping along Playing hide and seek In the deep jungle trails Loving their many secrets Chasing the dappled shadows The bag on my shoulders My meagre notes and books Forgotten in my wonder world A smile on my lips As I went hush hush after a squirrel ...Stepping on a twig Was the noise very loud? What did I hear? Was that more twigs breaking? Foolishly, still unconcerned As I spy the squirrel again, But not for long... They creep up Trample the mossy bed Chase away the sun's rays And give a howl of laughter So I know they are near With no place to go, No place to hide Have you seen hyenas Hunting sniffing playing with their prey I am the prey The bloody boots finally leave With my smile... hunger satiated Over my trodden bag, broken body That was not the end My halting story uttered Hunted, haunted, deserted My tale twisted, my virginity plundered Many times over I was a pariah, thrown...
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Brahmaputra - Deep and Immersive

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  A few days back we had a most defining and immersive experience on a cruise on the Brahmaputra. This was my third cruise across the mighty river in this region.   We started from Guijjan, a small hamlet near Tinsukia, at 7 am, in a small boat. Our destination was an area called Maili in the upper reaches of Brahmaputra where some wild horses had been sighted by forest people. The journey was supposed to take 4 hours.   During the rainy season, junglee horses move around, as their original settlement around the Dibru Saikhowa national park is flooded.   The Dibru Saikhowa is fed by the Brahmaputra and Lohit and Dibru and an interlaced galaxy of small and big tributaries. Our boatman informed us that we were going towards the Siang (or Dihang, pronounced as Dehing) River, another of those distributing and feeding tributaries that weave in and out of the main river. It was raining mildly and the boat ride itself was a joy and full of complexities from encounteri...
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Odia Raja - Meaning and Significance | Banaste Dakila Gaja

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  Banaste Dakila Gaja,  Barasa Ke Thare Asichi Raja, Asichi Raja lo Gheni Nua Saja Baja... so the old Odia folksong on Raja goes. The Raja festival is upon us. We know it and celebrate it as three days of fun, joy, celebrations, new clothes, home cooked pitha, preceded by days of shopping for new clothes and ingredients. The Raja festival  is the day of the year when the earth weeps tears of joy as its dry soil is drenched with the first monsoon rains.  It is during the time of Mithuna Sankranti, which is when the first rains of monsoon strike Odisha. There is also an allusion to the menstrual cycle of young girls of age in the festivities that occur during Raja. While girls have their periods every month, Mother Earth has hers every year. The festival is a tribute to mother Earth and she is given respite these days and not allowed to carry any burden. The traditional Odia family jobs of "kata", bata", "randha", "badha", "boha bahi" are spar...
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