PRIYANSHI BAHADUR - POEMS

Priyanshi is a full time student of English Literature in the English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad. She loves to read poems especially haikus and children’s books and admire its simplicity. She enjoys painting in her free time and loves the smell of freshly cut grass. Her poetry comes from a place of contentment and bliss. Her poems are full of visuals and she likes to play with dissimilar images. She fancies rains and a nice masala chai.

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​SKETCHES OF LADAKH

ACHA
​

​Acha sits on an embroidered carpet,
Her wrinkles tell the story of invasion.
.
She lost three brothers to war,
And a sister to childbirth.
.
According to Phugpa she is 83.
According to the western, exiled.
.
Amchi is landless in the land of Yakhni,
She says that the trick is to dance,
.
The carpet is that of her step mother,
Her wrinkles tell the story of invasion.
.
She is the remains of Lhasa,
And her smile brings wrinkles.

​Acha: Elder sister, in Tibetian
                                                                                                             Phugpa: Tibetan calendar
  Amchi: traditional practice of medicine
Yakhni: A slow cooked Kashmiri dish
Lhasa: A city of Tibet now in China

BEDTIME STORIES
​

​Under the Apple blossoms,
When you rest your head on my lap,
I will read to you about the mighty mountains of Lhasa and prayers in a Mani wheel.
.
I will tell you the story of how my father had a 107 horses but when he came from Tibet,
it was on foot.
About the scented monastery of Lamayuru.
.
About my Acha and her wrinkles,
And how I have finally made peace with Zanskar river.
.
And, when your mind flows slower than the river,
know that we have become one.
Under the Apple blossoms.

LAMA YURU
​

​A toothless Api sat,
Chipping starga,
Under the cherry blossoms.
.
Api reeked of alcohol,
Narrated the stories of her youth,
In a language, I do not understand.
.
She said to me,
Dolkar translated,
“She is pretty, but I was prettier when I was her age.”
 
 

​Starga- walnut