Dawn Or Dusk! Poem by Umasree Raghunath

Gone are the days, I saw a sunshine
Getting up in the morning
The little plants that used to sway
As I water them in the dawn
The artistic beauty that wanders
On the early morning roads
With the colourful rangoli in
The little lanes that strethch by
Watch the stray dogs grit and grin
And the little yellow chicks following the hen
Men and women with the aluminiumware
Taking their days bread to the field there
The curdwalla coming home with the
Yogurt fresh from the calf blessed cow
Could see the broiler heating the water for the day
And young men getting oiled for the hair
Someone coming home shouting
Hey, the tamilariu, the river running by
Is going beyond the locks at Helapuri,
Lift all the things that lay down
And place them in the lofts of the tiled house
Yeah, forgot one thing, that may float,
Gas cylinder, school bag, hey where
Will we keep our Dad's old scooter
The blue alawyn one, that no more exists
Our July starts sensing some thing serious
And barking aloud to be lifted too
People make a chain in the road
Swaying hands to catch the running treasure
Of plastic buckets and water pots
Ofcourse could see the hut tops flooting too
Summers, ofcourse the fun begins
With the extreme heat waves touching us
The women drying the storage for the year
The hottest spicy avakai being made
Mangoes, the king of fruits in abundance
Children shine with the yellow sunshine
Eating their favourite fruit with heart content
Winter begins and the people shiver
With the fever of honeymooning
And going around the little town
The so called city made pot luck lunch
But a veryold tradition of the so called
Tottabochanams, with fun, frolic and food