The Mercurial Nepalese! Poem by Rajendran Muthiah

The ravishing views of hills,
vales and falls and the luxuriant paddy fields,
the rushing down of streams,
the rivers vending their long course
chanting hymns of praise
of the realm of Himalayas,
filled my mind and heart
and lulled me into a nap.

When the Sun was peeping out
we fell into the web of touts
at Peerganj near Indias’ border.
When the hills hid into dark,
we reached our dreamy Kathmandu.
The leal Nepalese toil and moil
on a soil atop the earth.
They chain the rubble to fence the road
and drive the vehicles with unknown ease.
They dote on the poor Tibetans
and treat the aliens as of their kin.

Lord Siva in his hallowed abode
reigns supreme in that rarified hills
on the bank of a booming creek.
Lord Vishnu in a recumbent state
enthralls the worshippers.
We roamed over the rotunda
built in memory of Buddha.
A medley crowd of all races
meet, talk, wonder and depart.

The rustic manners of the Nepalese,
the marts where the briskets
of bulls, pigs and goats kept open
with their horns and tails aside,
at the early dawn evoked smiles from us.
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