By Salil Chaturvedi
Percolation
The man sleeps on the rim of the pavement, one hand under his ear, legs bent. This is the shaded part of the esplanade. Now and then, a few bright-yellow flowers from the adjoining Copperpod tree fall and settle around him. His legs are draped with a faded blue-checked lungi and his skin is slightly darker than the tree’s shadow. The breeze from the river lifts the edges of the cloth he sleeps on. Some sparrows loiter at the edge of the cloth. I don’t know the man’s name. I don’t know how he spent his youth. I don’t know where his home is or if I have something to do with his presence on the promenade.
river’s edge —
inside a footprint
a cracked shell
Salil Chaturvedi writes short fiction and poetry. His published collections include In the Sanctuary of a Poem, Love and Longing in the Anthropocene, a little knowing, an award-winning collection of Hindi poetry titled Ya Ra La Va Sha Sa Ha, and a collection of short stories, The Inexact Room. New work from Salil appears in the anthology A Brave New World of Goan Writing & Art 2025.
Banner image by Phil Hearing downloaded from Unsplash.com