October 28, 1999,
Maruee’s 32^nd birthday.
Even as the century prepared to stage its own last act,
her shraddha ceremony was performed to conclude her life.

The last rites were observed with great diligence and care.
A yagna fire was lit; slokas were chanted from the Gita.
No one read aloud her favourite Tagore poem, or
danced to a tune that was dear to her.

Soundlessly, in one remote corner of the garden,
A soul sister wrote her name in fresh Shiuli flowers,
while her two-year-old grandson wandered, 
restlessly kicking dry Jalpai leaves.

Oceans away, in distant America,
her only daughter typed into a computer
a line adapted from Octavio Paz: “She
is a pause.”

And the papaya tree that she had planted
came crashing down.

…

Rinku Dutta lives in Himachal Pradesh. She loves to observe butterflies and to day-dream.