Tarun Cherian

The Runaway Smile

My smile walks away from me,
Boards the train bound to Sakleshpur, claims its seat,
Next to the mami (auntyji) from Malleshwaram, who pulls out a tiffin filled with murkus,
Homemade which you have to say no to with salivating mouth,
(Nowadays you know train thieves drug and leave you naked on the tracks),
Anyway you adjust-maadi, and squeeze tight against the flower seller from Anant Nag,
While her husband leers at you,
But she, she with her provincial wisdom,
Places a warm understanding hand on your thigh,
Which says ‘the men will be the men,’
And new teeth pop up in your smile
That broadens to include our home in IndiraNagar, now no longer screaming its head off,
And with Tenali Ram’s wry wisdom grins at life foibles,
As the whole world is ‘seeing’ your ex-husband running after the train like Don Quixote,
With umbrella poking ‘everbodies’ and the train’s arse
Shouting ‘my wife, my wife do not take my wife’
But the engine driver ‘is not caring,’
And with a jhug-jhug katak feek we move towards Amma’s estate,
Where she will hit me with a belan for leaving my husband,
And I will be safe and smiling.

Tarun Cherian illuminates lives with Aura Reading, Dream Interpretations, Animal Whispering, Angelic Interventions, helps patients fight the incurable, accompanies serious spiritual seekers on the path to the ultimate, and creates windows with art & poetry.