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Pankhuri Sinha
Muzaffarpur, Bihar, India
Bilingual young poet and story
writer from India. Two books of poems published in
English, two collections of stories published in Hindi,
and five collections of poetries published in Hindi, and
many more are lined up. Has been published in many
journals, anthologies, home and abroad. Has won many
prestigious, national-international awards, has been
translated in over twenty two languages. Her writing is
dominated by themes of exile, immigration, gender
equality and environmental concerns. After doing her BA
from Delhi University, and PG diploma in Journalism,
from Symbiosis Pune, Pankhuri did her Master’s in
history from SUNY Buffalo, and has an unfinished Phd
from the University of Calgary, Canada. She has worked
in various positions as a journalist, lecturer and a
content editor.
10th Sepetmber 2020
September 2020
End of the rainy season
Mild to scorching heat
Temperatures can rise
And sometimes, thus
They cause rainfall
Rain, beautiful rain!
Come September
Heat should have mellowed
Rains subsiding
The earth should have been
green!
But, Alas!
Behold! The water logged
fields!
For this year, my friends!
The great Indian monsoon
Has decided to be kind
It has drenched the rich
And has submerged the poor
And instead of bringing
A great harvest
It has brought havoc
Houses have risen above
The rivers that suddenly flew
Overnight, into the lives of
people
River management
Water policy
Is a parliamentary debate
That has scarcely taken place
Or will probably
Not really take place
We will be left
With news and pictures of
Drowning lives, cattles,
Fields, crops
When September
Was when all of these
Could have bloomed
Blossomed like Jasmine
Kachnar, Malti
Flowers native to the soil
Are fragrant indeed
In the middle of floods!
On higher grounds
Surrounded
Threatened!
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