my lord

my lord Shamaliyo honoured my hundi  --

how would we get Gagli’s gavan,

the bridal sari otherwise

and give her grand send off ?

my vowto our clan-deity Chavanda bore fruit

and the young high caste garasani died.

they draped her corpse with a shroud of red gavan.

flames of her pyre are burning crimson red

and the red gavan is waving at the akdabush !

Gagli’s mother is smiling bitchy black!

let thecorpse-bearers and mourners turn their back

and i shall run to the funeral ghat.

my lord honoured my hundi.

the lord of us untouchable hounoured

the piece of pledge-paper we illiterate never wrote.

( hundi : as the legend goes, penniless Nagar Brahmin saint-poet Narsinh Mehta was granted favour by Lord Krishna, honouringhis hundi - a cheque)