IN RESPONSE TO "DEATH by Arnab Hazra"

cold. WARM. dawn. NIGHT. rained. HAD RAINED. Saw into his eyes- dead. DEAD. rajnigandha garland. RAJNIGANDHA GARLAND. i hate rajnigandhas. they are death. they are beautiful. i love rajnigandhas. their smell is the sweetest. beautiful. SICKLY SWEET. four of us, family, weeping. mourning. it rained that day. but not yet. CROWDING IN EVERY ROOM. shrunken body. SHRUNKEN BODY. CLOSED EYES. eyes open. in his eyes i saw nothing, just eyes. CLOSED EYES. BURNING GHATS. animal burial ground. in the interiors of shokher bajar. GANGES. ASHES. dust. It was beautiful. the place. BOLO HORI. hori bol. my noel. my beautiful noel would be buried in a beautiful place. strong noel. brave noel. DEAD. buried beside a mango tree. in our old home we had a mango tree. THREE GOATS TIED TO THREE TREES IN A ROW. life. DEATH. interim. he would sit on the verandah and peer through the branches to the street below.outside. filtered green. Verandah. Closed space. MALA OF THREE BLEEDING HEADS. SMILING. forlorn. shades of green. out to freedom.DEATH.STREAK OF RED DOTS IN HIS FACE. SCIMITAR GOES UP AND COMES DOWN WITH AN UNEARTHLY SWISH. my beautiful noel sleeps beside a mango tree. Salt and lime on his body. The earth will consume his beautiful body. He had suffered too much. DEAD. NIBBLING. BLOOD. RAJNIGANDHA. Rajnigandha. It rained that day.

Noel Bhattacharya, my furry brother. Came to us on 7^th December 1997. Came to us on a Sunday. He fell on the 24^th of June 2010. For fourteen days he tried to get up. On the fifteenth day he didn’t. Buried beside a mango tree on a rainy Sunday. Drops of tears.