It’s an ordinary day in August
The Bangalore Tourism Agency
Has confessed its incompetence
A band of visitors
Gather outside the museum regardlessly,
Clinging on to a man –
A pilot of an old aircraft
They choose the places they already know of.
He does not give them an option not to
It’s his first visit,
And all they really need
Is only an assurance.
A typical set of workers
Sprawl outside the red building
It’s slowly losing its plaster to its wisdom
They are five –
A perfect number for a lonely man
to slip outside of the daily conversation casually
He spreads his banana leaf,
Spills out his lunch,
Stares at his foot folded close to him
Dusts off the plaster,
Slightly familiar to the visitor –
Who watches him,
When he needs only an assurance
Once more.

by Nandini Varma