How does one write
an Elegy for a Grams
Rest Well, Naani..
You have not gone
You live
When I tell my niece
that she should not learn Phulkari
And when I send my son
to see a fillum alone
with his friends
I will think of u and smile.
Rest well, Grams
because when I told my son
That you were the monitor of your class
In Class 5 - the highest class available for girls
in Gujranwala
And that you stood and acted
as the overseer
for labour
building that house
in post partition India
for you and your family..
when I told him that
he said
"But that's my chaiji. where is your chaiji?"
Rest well, Buddi Mai.. you are not gone.
and The Swang.. it waits.. for another wedding.
You and I
will do it again
together -
The wily mother in law .