Chapter Thirty-Five
Have you seen my Dark Lord? I am nothing but a plaything to him
the noose of his cool lotus eyes pulls me hither and thither.
Yes, we did, cavorting in Vrindavan, that mighty elephant calf
beads of sweat covering his body like a coat of pearls
Nacciyar Tirumoli 14:4
Casuarina trees lined the entrance to Sivakasi’s hospital, their bruised needles carpeting its driveway. In the midday heat, the scent of its leaves was oddly familiar, of sand dunes and heath, the salty air of a place I had once called home. In a few hours, like most other thresholds in India, the leaves would be swept away. Again. What was the point?
What was the point of holding tight to anything?
The hour the bus took from Srivilliputtur had been an eternity of ear-splitting Bollywood and a rage
