Practitioner’s Perch

View from Cave #97, Kanheri Caves, Mumbai
Photograph shot on December 21, 2003 as my brother, Sunny waited patiently for me to capture what the eye saw much clearer.

Sitting on a stone bench
The naked eye sees the forest
Edged by the coils of the city
But the camera is foiled by the smog
So it romanticizes under a veil
Of sun, moisture, salt air and people breathing.

The stone bench was not smooth
In spite of so many who sat there before
It was not in its nature to do so.

The city was much newer
Full of energy, verve and direction
Energy from the sea’s pull to the bottom
Verve from the variety of tongues spoken
Direction – just away, away from the bottom
Unlike the bench, old and unchanging.

The stone bench was not comfortable
In spite of so many who meditated upon it
It was not in its nature to do so.

The camera and the stone bench
Hand in glove, the one romanticizing the other
The naked eye tracking the growth
A city of visions and aspirations bubbling over
Taking in its transmission pylons, its living towers
Breathing and rising, coiling around its vast edges.