Escaping the citylights is a short series that is Rant/Poetry collection written during my recent visit to my native village of Kanyakumari.

I entered my grandparents' house ( My mother's parents) with kisses from my grandma and pats from my grandpa, I was entering a heaven- not white but green, not cloudy but clean, lined with plantations of rubber trees and banana plants with coconuts and palms popping in between

A canal was cutting the village in half, kids were grazing and so were the calves. I entered the house that was a classic Keralite fashion, and in the front yard was a welcome gift - A Dying plant of Tulsi

The Dying Throne

Deadly winds caused you no more than sway,
Then how did winds of death change you?
How did winds of change make you gray?
Or did the dry winds- the wet death brew?

Upon your cemented cuboidal throne,
Cementing the legacy of your esteemed name,
Tulsi! Name only the evilest bemoan,
Tulsi! Wide wise folk worship the same.

Lit sticks of incense and men unerect
Worship at your stem- no weeding sickles do,
Then why you remain so wizened?
So wrekt?
And bow in death or in return- to the incurrent dew?

Is it my best welcome gift?
To tell me- die the wise and die the loons,
Death can no wounds unbruise and hopes lift,
Death can make Tulsi mortal and curse its immortal boons.

~Ajay
May 2017