Kala Ghoda Poems

Several poems from Kala Ghoda Poems were published in London Magazine, Little Magazine, Chandrabhaga and Poetry Wales over several years—probably the longest literary teaser campaign ever. The poems focus on the triangular island opposite Wayside Inn. Arun would sit for hours at a window table, gazing out at this stony stage. Anyone familiar with this part of Bombay will recognize the island, the pi-dogs, Jehangir Art Gallery’s pipe-smoking lavatory lady, the ubiquitous crow, the street-cleaners, and all the other open-air residents of Kala Ghoda. They are so familiar that they have become invisible. Who notices the tiny boy-child being bathed on the roadside? The little girl with the silver fig-leaf hiding her crotch? The acid-burned woman with the hideous face? When they crowd round a particularly rich-looking car at the traffic-lights the passengers ignore them, will them into invisibility again. But Arun had been watching them for a long time, and celebrated their lives from dawn to dusk and right round the year.