Sunanda Pushkar

Sunanda We never met We never knew each other You were just a charming presence An ebullient efflorescence That off and on graced our TV screens You crashed into my awareness When your wedding news With a handsome politician An unlikely combination Who had run up to the top of the UN Human form of linguistic eloquence Hailing from my own town Who tweeted faster than the morning birds Hit the headlines And blazed our channels Later, I saw you Chasing his frenetic perambulations At parties and events Your sunny smile Always made sure His shadow cast no darkness Sunanda I sat up at the news That you have gone Forever, stunned A lady has gone Not a politician's consort But a gracious presence A woman made of romance And the stuff of dreams From our noisy midst Sunanda They will talk and talk Weave new stories Sensationalize your exit Dissect and analyze Your past, what you did and didn't Conjecture possibilities About what really happened To satisfy rumour mills As the doctors would On your frail lifeless corpus You were a fluttering butterfly That died in the morning dew Rest in peace, Oh, grace A tear-drop here I place Beside you where you lie Dripping from a wrenching heart An utter stranger's tribute For we can only cry When those of dream-stuff die