Soliloquy

What goes on in my mother’s mind,
When she passes by 3, Shishir Bhaduri Street?
Does she remember the time she fell off the Banyan
Or the time she stood unperturbed in the heat?

What does my mother go through
When she thinks of 3, Shishir Bhaduri Street?
Do the teenage ecstacies come flooding back
Or is it the painful scars that she has to greet?

What does my mother think of
When she revisits 3, Shishir Bhaduri Street?
Does the house symbolise every bit of lost hope
And that former self of hers that she couldn’t defeat?

Does my mother understand the nuances
When she talks about 3, Shishir Bhaduri Street?
Does it hurt to have left the house she was born
Thinking back, does her heart still skip a beat?

Does my mother get lost in thought
When she sees a picture of 3, Shishir Bhaduri Street?
Does she recollect the night she left it in all its glory
Does she still play those Tagore songs on repeat?

Why does my mother sometimes get nostalgic
When she thinks of 3, Shishir Bhaduri Street?
Does it ever cross her mind that on 21 June ’95
She lost more than just a house made of concrete?