You need a transit pass to go to Patna His mother and father are locked down in Simari, Madhubani. Mother calls and talks about the quara...
You need a transit pass to go to Patna
His mother and father are locked down in Simari, Madhubani. Mother calls and talks about the quarantine centres the panchayat is making. Father is not too happy for he can get no visitors. Mother talks of all the crazy WhatsApp messages she gets in the family group about the Tabhligi Jamaat. Then one morning, mother calls him. His father is breathing but not waking up and has to be taken to a hospital in Patna.
Three Borders – Meghalaya, Assam, Bengal, Bihar
He has been shutting his eyes when they point the gun. Temperature gun.
“I have to learn to keep my eyes open.” He texts her from the Assam-Bengal border. And the stench of a dead cow assails him. Highways calm him.
“Hope you don’t meet any migrants,” her voice sounds strained, “I can’t bear the images anymore.”
“Not here,” I mumble.
Red Zone
Near Naxalbari he finds demography returning home.
“Bees-pachees din,”, the man replies and pedals on towards Dhubri, Assam. From Noida, 1,624 km, my Google map informs.
He takes out the draft of the translation of Amitabh’s Hindi poem.
“Corona is deadly, but not a bloodthirsty oppressor. The poor thing does not even know that it can kill. It spreads but does...
