Mookkuthi

She queries me on her diamond mookkuthi
Undoubtedly it's dazzlingly pretty
It's sure to have cost her lover a fortune
And she will not part with it so soon

Your mookkuthi is a shining star
I reply to the beauty without par
But even the brightest star fades as the sun ascends
Thy two adoring eyes, my dear, are much more magnificent.


(Mookkuthi is the Malayalam word for a nose stud.)

                                                    The story behind Mookkuthi

"I had a really nice time with you. Unforgettable".

I was on the phone to a woman I found irresistible. We had just spent a couple of hours together and I thought I was falling... fast... into that four letter word that often complicates our lives.

"Yes me too", she cooed, "It was a beautiful day. But the best part of it was the food we had in Pizza Hut. Usually they mess up the order or make the pizzas very crusty but this time it was perfect."

I felt let down so I said " Really , that was your best part ?"

" Actually ,now that I think of it, no.."

My pulse was racing and sweat beads of anticipation were crowning my forehead.

After a lengthy pause she confided : " If I'm really honest I have to say that the garlic bread was the best. So creamy, cheesy and crispy. Yummy,Yummy ! "

Well I am no relationship expert but that comment pretty much dashed any hopes I had of scoring with her. The sad truth was that while I was lost in her eyes among many other things, she was directing her attention solely on the  garlic bread and pizzas.

This incident happened many years ago. As you would have guessed, nothing much came out of that lunch date except the birth of a poem, a raw uncut piece written on a high that only love can produce. It perfectly explains how I felt about the object of my affection then. I always had a thing for women wearing mookkuthis but on that particular day she was wearing a diamond one ! Yet  even a diamond mookkuthi couldn't outshine the light and beauty of her eyes!

Do you think that I should have shown her this poem ? Would it have made a difference? Would you fall for a person who penned a poem for you even if it was not exactly Shakespearean in scope ? Has anybody written a poem for you ?

My previous attempt at a poem took the blogging world by storm receiving much critical acclaim. Let's see how this one fares... :-)

Chocolate

She feels shy she says,
When my gaze wanders into her syrupy sweet chocolate eyes,
I  fantasize her darkness melting in my mouth today,
Only to hear her say,
"What?!! Just blink or look away,ok?"

Kaleidoscopic

Heat searing into my skin
Rising up in sighing steamy vapour
On the searing blue berth I lie immobile
Dreaming dark grey clouds cool drafts and all pervading wetness.

Dimming sights ,a swirling dust storm
Craning my neck outside
Tonguing the first few drops
Of imminent thunderstorm

Smelling newly drenched earth
Rain french kissing the sand
Nude children uninhibited soaked in laughter
Men cowering under the shade of the banyans.

Bespectacled black blushing with exertion
Stumbling into my solitary coup
A pause, a break in my journey
Across me she sits , to stand again

The blackness drops, hanging on a hook
Brown pastures tumbling in and out
Behind the blinkers staying firmly put
I glimpse the glittering kaleidoscope.


(Penned in a rare moment of poetic inspiration on my last rail journey. The rains and the lass came as we neared the city of the Taj. My first poem in the public domain after an attempt when I was 13, in the school magazine. Ah, to speak of wasted genius ! *Sigh*)