It Doesn’t Suit Punti

Bijaya Mukhopadhyay

You have not been burdened

With the load of the world’s troubles

Whether India shall make bombs

Or when America leaves Vietnam

And the importance of popular consent about automaton

These are not for you, Punti.

You must bathe and do your hair in the evening

Wear perfumed oil

Lightly apply precious pearly snow powder

And wear a small bindi made of paper ashes

Adorn your hair bun with some evening roses;

Dark green sarees on monsoon days

Suit you very well.
 
 

Punti, such a serious face at your age

Simply cannot be accepted.

Isn’t it a bit much?

After all, what do you know of Woolf

Or about the Peking Purge?
 
 

You set up your home alright,

Light your lamps,

And remember,

You need to raise good sons

Such unabashedness doesn’t suit you, sheesh!