For Paromita Vohra

If I call you a cup of tea
I’m paying you a compliment

Delicate as Darjeeling
without being weak
You have to recover yourself as loveable after every heartbreak

Robust Assam, rallying
Anger gives me articulation

Propelled. Poetic. Not a nitwit
to ignore what fills you with feeling
That quickening lime with a touch of sugar

But can one ignore rigour?
To follow feeling to its den and verify
Notes of a clove in a masala chai
Balanced. Exuberant

Black and spartan on some days
as one shows up
for work
To the skill it requires
To the humility it brings

All flavours and moods
Even the throwaway sentence you use
A delightful warm sip

दिन रंगीला हो या ना हो
To this Pushpa
You are a tea for all seasons Paro

…
Carol D’Souza: tea-drinker, walker