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Tamil Life
The doorbells
don’t work
but no one goes away.

These one-and-a-half years
with no latch on the bathroom door
have endangered
no one’s privacy.

The broken leg of this chair
will not insult a guest,
only slightly imbalance him.

I have been travelling
in this god-protected city
in a vehicle without brakes
for a week.

That pain
at the base of the stomach,
somewhere to the left,
comes often these days.
If I sleep at a particular angle for a while
I can manage.

There is a lot
to be set right
everywhere.

Even so,
uncomplicated
is Tamil life.

© 2001, Manushya Puthiran
From: Neeralanathu
Publisher: Kalachuvadu Pathippagam, Nagercoil, 2001


© Translation: 2004, C.S. Lakshmi and Arundhathi Subramaniam
From: The Unhurried City: Writings on Chennai
Edited by C.S. Lakshmi

Publisher: Penguin Books India, New Delhi, 2004