Reversal

Music in gear

2 AM announces itself through the brawls of the brawny dogs outside
it is my territory, if only for tonight
I close the window and my eyes
I can hear my heart inside
the clocks, their ticks are split seconds apart
Coincide.

4 AM waltzes in gently with Beethoven’s Fur Elise.
the road the car is being reversed on seems endless
but I can hear the breaks, the song restarts
over and over until the car is on a forward gear
moving along the empty streets
Decrescendo.

The car across me is grooving to a 2004 bollywood hit,
that is eighteen years in memories and consumption
three others are honking at the reversing car
I only have my words, stripped of volume
a slow moving body in these clangorous roads
Dhoom to doom.

I think back to our graduation goodbyes in 2012,
Yeh dosti playing as the car tried to navigate
embraces on the road, windows rolled down
with hands waving and shaking
the music moved the crowd
to an intimate stillness.

I sang alto in my school choir (mandatorily),
Celine Dion was my then inspiration
My music teacher said, all you can do is practice
I didn’t hit up YouTube to test my pitch,
I waited for a distant neighbour’s car
It’s heart went forever on.

I stopped to listen in the bath, very faintly
I heard the title track of Mungaru male
Nothing worse than a melancholic earworm,
early in the morning, completing
the jerky reverse tune in Sonu Nigam’s voice.
I turned the tap off, I was late.

There was that time when anywhere you turned,
Airtel had their branding on it,
billboards, phones, cars, sim card kiosks
Cars shifted gears and hands slid to pockets
to make sure it wasn’t their phone ringing,
Crescendo.

In the silence of the Nilgiris,
the car sings to me over and over,
Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday..
long pause, the car is in brake

to you ~