(there was an old Pipal tree in my ancestral home in North India)

Ruchi Chopra

serpent roots sprout

everywhere-

laden with saccharine and vinegar

these roots had memories

{repatriation}

red vermillion , turmeric paste &

sugar mixed with wheat flour

smeared on a newly

wedded Bride’s forehead

serpent roots

spit

red vermillion/ Sindoor

{exile }

:

:

:

shred of red Sindoor

exhumed

an intention

a prayer

a promise

{redemption}

our neighbors

fed

these

serpent roots:

saffron-infused milk, honey,

flowers,

yogurt, ladoos, and fruits

{political will}

{baggage claim}

{asylum}

{silence}

:

:

:

(there was an old Pipal tree in my ancestral home in North India)

when my grandparents

boarded a ghost train to India

{human stories}

{forced migration}

verandah/courtyard-

half of the Pipal tree

remained on the other side of the

{fence}

they sewed

the noise

chaos

memories

to escape the dissent

migrant stories

& silence

yearns-

uprooted roots to sprout

{a muezzin prayer or a chant of temple bells}

my nana often

told me stories

from the Pre-Partition times-

[grandma's voice]

“I miss my brass utensils, gold and silver jewelry, and my favorite brass betel nut cutter that we had to hide away digging up soil in Verandah.”

"We hid some of the expensive stuff here and there to escape the massacre.”

"The night we fled to take the train to India. I had Henna in my hands. I decked up as a new bride, for we were married a few days back…."

I was wearing some of my heirloom jewelry; I told your grandfather; I am not leaving it here.

"I miss the happy times with my Bauji."

(how many times have I rephrased these stories in my mind?)

imagine the touch-

of the old Pipal tree

to feel belongingness

my grandma’s voice

called all stray calves seeking refuge

in the old Pipal tree

my grandfather relaxed under

the shade of the old Pipal tree on a Charpoy

(I yearn to touch the Old Pipal tree on the other side of the fence)

serpent roots

bellowed-

(grandmother's voice)

"we had hoped we would be able to return to our homes, but it wasn't good, nothing I have seen it before or would want to see again, in my lifetime."

{pind}

{echo}

:

:

heirloom

(refugitude}

:

:

:

* Sindoor-is a traditional cosmetic powder that married Hindu women wore.

* ladoos- an Indian sweet

*Pipal Tree- Sacred Fig Tree

* Verandah- Porch

* Henna-a reddish brown dye used for coloring hands, especially in marriages.

* Bauji- Father

* muezzin-a man who calls Muslims top prayer from the tower of a mosque

* charpoy-a bedstead

* Pind- village

* Refugitude- Refugitude, a term advanced by Khatharya Um in her work on Cambodian diaspora (Um, 2015), connotes the state, conditions, and consciousness of being a refugee.