Dr Jyothsnaphanija portrays a mundane day while initiating a non-Malayali friend to speak in Malayalam in this poem – exclusively for Different Truths.

We have to listen to the recording with care
Like holding a boiling tea cup while walking.
After one or two sessions of practice,
You get this illusion that you’ve learnt the song
You can recreate the song well
Like natural light in a studio.
You get this feeling of losing a lot of weight,
When you look at your picture in a tracksuit.
After a few days, you understand that you must start all over again.
By this time, you would have decoded reading the notes.
Your memory is best for record keeping.
You ask your non-Malayali friend to say the word vazhapazham
Imagining the difficulty in the cafeteria.
It was above to rain.
You shift your attention
You make your friend pronounce mazhai.

Glossary of Malayalam words:

Vazhapazham: banana

Mazhai: rain

Picture design by Anumita Roy

Dr Jyothsnaphanija

Dr Jyothsnaphanija teaches English Literature at ARSD College (University of Delhi), India. Her first poetry collection Ceramic Evening was published in 2016. Her poems most recently have appeared and are forthcoming in The Handy, Uncapped Pen, Wishbone Words, The Hopper, Bosphorus Review of Books and others.

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