one day to see flamingos.
Over the years, I had pieced a map
of the place in my head but never been
there; nor had I seen flamingos.
At seven, Sewri was full of sewers
filled with the filth of the city, but kept
safe
by the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
in their underground bunkers.
At ten, I put up the Sewri Port, at eleven,
I built the Sewri Fort
with the Brits to ward off
he Siddis, and at twelve,
in the Sewri Civil and Sessions Court, I slammed
offenders behind bars.
At sixteen, I added
a Christian Cemetery, and at
seventeen,
a friend shifted to Sewri
from his South Bombay house,
which felt like he'd shifted abroad.
Twenty years had gone by for me
living in this city, and in
the one score years that had passed,
I had never been to
Sewri; nor had I seen flamingos.
This is the Lesser Flamingo, the girl
from Hornbill House informed me.
Biologists elevated
the Greater variety like builders
built "Upper Worli".
I could not make out the Greater
from the Lesser from Geese from the jetty or if
one of them pecked
another and the two of them made out
a fuchsia love
symbol with their necks.
The flamingos mate
all round the year, and migrate
yearly from Tanzania, sir, would you like
to buy a T-shirt sir? 350 only? She held up
a magenta-coloured garment that said
‘Save The Flamingos!’
But why Sewri? What
is just so special about here? It must be
the mangroves and mudflats here, sir,
are you buying this T-shirt now sir?
Sewri these days is an important place
bridging New Bombay with the Trans-Harbour Link,
and alienating our migrants pink.
The flamingos didn’t go
to Sewri this year. Nor did I. I know
I should have bought that damn shirt.
_
[Sewri is a locality along the eastern coast of the city of Mumbai, while Worli is a locality along its western coast.]
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