The professor of American Literature
at the University of Bombay
was my ‘real’ father.
‘Real’ was the response to my classmates’ questions
“Is he your ‘real’ father?
‘Sacchi?’ they asked in Hindi, meaning “really?”
Wanting to confirm,
It’s the Indian way of asking
With head movements from side to side.
I watched the professor at home
as he prepared a lecture on Walt Whitman.
He said I must attend the class
Whitman was a very important poet.
He told me the secret of a good lecture
was thorough preparation
He had repeated that one before.
So, he wrote his notes on Whitman
by hand on lined paper
spending two hours till he was done.
During the lecture at the university
his eyes roamed the rows of students
The ‘real’ father looking for his ‘real’ daughter
He did not find me there.
Rehearsing for the inter-collegiate choir competition
I had given the lecture a miss
It was all pre-planned.
Besides, singing the Hallelujah Chorus
was more important than Whitman
When my college won the trophy
I was sure I had done the right thing
Missing the Whitman lecture
It was like winning the World Cup.
I preferred Handel to Whitman
Whitman was singing a song of himself
Handel was singing about The Messiah
I preferred to praise ‘The Lord God Omnipotent’
than celebrating myself!
With more maturity in my veins
as a high school teacher of poetry
I understood the universality of Whitman’s message
Wishing I had taken my father’s words
a little more seriously.
After my father died we heard
the dust crumbled an entire suitcase
with his lecture notes on Whitman
The silverfish loved both poets
My ‘real’ father and Whitman.
***
Madras Courier originally ran as a broadsheet with a poetry section. It was a time when readers felt comfortable sharing glimpses of their lives through verse. If you have a poem you’d like to submit, do email us at [email protected].
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