S O L I L Q U Y

SOMALI PANDA

Resurrect, you holy spirit! It is your turn now.

…I was shocked to see you in Birhana, you the pretty dancing girl from Mohenjo-Daro! How could you be there? And believe me it was so reassuring to find you there, by the Saraswati basin. You’re mine, girl! I felt connected within! See, I knew you, I felt we were together somewhere sometime

I wear those shoes, veils, long dresses yet. I feel those days of sand and thirst, I walk on those uneven roads and sing those chromatic notes. I am trapped now in a frame that does not belong to Kapisayana, my nectar, and those brick flights of steps uncountable- where we sat together and talked for ages.

I didn’t know till we met again in Birhana that we were soul sisters, parted by that ancient disaster that kept the soil thirsty and hungry for hundred and sixty years! Saraswati kept our secret intact underneath, hiding from all eyes, conserved.

Let’s pray together sister, see the day has come again! We may lose each other again, those elemental crimes are committed, we violated nature, we have awakened the monster again, we will be buried for the primordial sin.
Let’s invoke the holy spirit

Save us once more!
It’s your turn now to conserve us when it is rough weather.

Resurrect, you holy spirit, let me see your face, Saraswati Mahabhage!