Miracles abound in this world.
One that put my hand into yours
The other that made the smell of jasmine
Linger a moment longer after the death of the flower.
Miracles are the stuff of night and day.

If you stand in the rain, and I stand under the umbrella,
And we both get wet, it is miraculous.
If you sip tea, and I sip lime juice
On a balmy afternoon
And the skies open to the whim of thunder,
We must call it miracle.

I encounter miracles by the dozen
Every week, every millennium, every instant,
And the morning stench of humans waking up
Is met with the jasmine bloom.
Time is a compendium, I say, of miracles.

For a thousand years, I have walked the earth,
For millenia, hunted for the ordinary miracle
that turns a man into messiah,
turns king into pauper,
girl into goddess.

For a thousand years, I am witness of miracles.

…

Atreyee Majumder is a writer and anthropologist based in Bangalore.