Mulligatawny Dreams

anaconda. candy. cash. catamaran. cheroot. coolie. corundum. curry. ginger. mango. mulligatawny. patchouli. poppadom. rice. tatty. teak. vetiver. i dream of an english full of the words of my language. an english in small letters an english that shall tire a white man’s tongue an english where small children practice with smooth round pebbles in their mouth to the spell the right zha an english where a pregnant woman is simply stomach-child-lady an english where the magic of black eyes and brown bodies replaces the glamour of eyes in dishwater blue shades and the airbrush romance of pink white cherry blossom skins an english where love means only the strange frenzy between a man and his beloved, not between him and his car an english without the privacy of its many rooms an english with suffixes for respect an english with more than thirty six words to call the sea an english that doesn’t belittle brown or black men and women an english of tasting with five fingers an english of talking love with eyes alone and i dream of an english where men of that spiky, crunchy tongue buy flower-garlands of jasmine to take home to their coy wives for the silent demand of a night of wordless whispered love . . . (First published in Kavya Bharati)