Ebrahim Poem by Unnikrishnan Sivasankara Menon

Ebrahim

I was back in my native village
After, it seemed, many an age.
Out on a walk through the streets
So familiar, but strange like Neptune.

Suddenly, there appeared before me
Who other than Ebrahim, a friend of my schooldays!
I recalled how he had stayed back in every class
A year or two, so he could study the lessons more thoroughly!

We joined him Level VI, where he was a veteran.
Next year, all of us were in Level VII.
Hindi class, the teacher introduced the word, ‘kamar'
Which meant ‘the waist'.

Next morning, when the class assembled
The biggest girl in the class, Mary, was missing
Soon, a call came from the Head Master
For my friend, Ebrahim.

Mary had complained with the Head Master
That Ebrahim called her Kamarununissa
In deference to her big buttocks.
Both were back, after he got a good caning.

Next Hindi class: someone asked the teacher,
"What does the name Kamarunnissa mean? '
She smiled knowingly, "it is not Kamarunnissa,
But ‘Qamarunnissa' and it is Urdu, not Hindi.

‘Qamar' means full moon and Qamarunnissa
Is a girl as beautiful and radiant as full moon."
I could not help looking at Mary and caught her
Looking at Ebrahim with her eyes shining.

One day, still in my college days,
we got the news, sensational:
Mary has eloped with Ebrahim.
I was the only person in the village, smiling!

I was called back to the present by his voice.
In reply to his enquiry I asked,
"How's Mary, no!
Your Qamarunnissa? "

Although a grandfather now, he blushed like a teen.