For Indhu

I have been counting down
to your birthday
It was the day you got your diagnosis
I was told and I picture you in the hospital
wondering what to say to all the people
sending you life’s best wishes and love.
Again, I think – I should have called!
Again, I think – we should have met more often!
When you did not reply that day
I thought the “viral fever”
was pretty bad and that soon
maybe in a week or two
you would be back in form.
I still cannot make sense of your absence.
Yet, every time I see flowering trees
(the Jacaranda, Copper pod, Sampige
Pongam, Tabebuia – still make our city special
and in my mind’s eye – I read the poems
you’d have written for them when I see them
flaunting their falling flowers)
every time I make a delicious coconut based curry
every time I smell chakka (I know jackfruit was
your muse) – I think of your bright eyes dancing
and that smile, the words tripping out
I think of your sharp sense of humour that saved
many on many a day – and I know you are here
even if you are not there.