Vaishnavi Ramaswamy
A Song in the Sand
Summer blue. The afternoon loo shimmers across a 45°C landscape. A handful of wood ash and white sand. Squatting, she scrubs all the pans and plates to a silvery shine.
Lunch over, her husband returns to his shoe-making. Paro retreats to the kitchen and reaches for the next empty pot, waiting with an open mouth. She pauses at the doorway. A wide expanse of blistering white.
Women veiled in bright pallus over their heads wait to start on a ten-kilometre walk to fetch water. Each balances an oversized brass pot, their necks and shoulders hardened to the weight.
barefoot...
the fire of the sky
on their heels
skirts sweeping
through miles of mirage
Moving to the rhythm of laughter, shared stories and songs, the sound of their anklets silences the heat.
Notes: loo—a scorching summer desert wind; pallu—the loose end of a saree
About the Author
Vaishnavi Ramaswamy is a nature and animal enthusiast. She is passionate about books, photography, travel and music. Her areas of research and interests include language, linguistics, creative writing and poetry. Some of Vaishnavi’s poems have appeared in journals and she has a poetry anthology to her credit. She is a homemaker living in India with her family.