Nalan 2.08 Lost The Dress Poem by Rajaram Ramachandran

The baking heat

With his wife, Nalan
By walk, he went on
Thru baking hot desert
And snake infested forest.

Kali as a bird

Kali had no sympathy,
Nor any kind of mercy,
Even while Nalan was
In extreme distress.

In the shape of a bird,
Before them, he appeared.
Its colour was golden
That gave more attraction.

She said, catch it

Once Sita told Rama for
Catching a golden deer.
Here Dhamayanthi told Nalan
To catch the bird golden.

He tried to catch

Nalan kept a watch
And tried to catch
But it escaped
Every time he tried.

A single dress

He told, “Let me share
Your sari and spare
My dhoti as a trap
For rounding it up.”

Rounded up

He shared her sari,
Threw up his dhoti,
O’er the golden bird,
That got trapped.


I defeated you, see

Along with the dhoti
It went up the sky
And told, “I’m the one
For your losing down.”

Soul and dress

Like their souls became one,
Their dresses also became one.
It was a blessing in disguise,
That Kali came in disguise.

Thought of her fate

She thought like this,
“Those disregarding virtues
Those living on falsehood
In the hell, they’ll land.”

“Those disobeying moral code,
Those talking ill of God
Those losing self-respect
They’ll reach the hell at last.”

“Those begging the rich,
This hell, they’ll reach.
May be you, Kali, will,
With them, go to the hell.”

She felt for her own act,
And also for her ill-fate.
Both faced this setback,
Due to their bad luck.