Where Is Khushwant Singh Taking Tadaka And Tandoori At A Dhaba? (A Mermoir) Poem by Bijay Kant Dubey

Where is Khushwant Singh
Taking tadaka and tandoori
At some roadside dhaba,
Tadaka, munga pulse unhusked
And fat handmade bread
But oiled and fried and sauced.
And with salad?


Where is he taking tadaka and tandoori
And gossiping about
Girls, love, sex and marriage
And jokes,
Unbridled jokes too,
Boxing below the belly
And bursting into a laughter?

Taking it all with salad, chutney, sauce
Spices and pickle,
Kucch khattei-kucch mitthei,
Something sweet, something sour
As do the memories remain they in the end
With jelly and jam too sometimes.

An old man, so much aged and ageing,
The grand old man
Used to talk of daru
Deshi and videshi both
Beer, brandy, whiskey,
Rum, vodka, champagne
And the joys of wining and dining
To colour and paint his moods at eves.

Sometimes prescribing lassie,
Water melon and cucumber,
Earthen pitcher-kept water
To beat the heat,
The heat of the day felt during summer
Intense and hot and perspiring.