Ball Yoga
Unto man’s heart, questing for an all-weather pal,
God whispered… ‘Shake hands with the ball.’
- Bolbul
Excerpt…
In the home of my friend Atoto,
The lowlands of Mexico,
We met when the sun was low,
Hace veinte anos.
Ha, ha, laughed had Atoto,
‘There were many like me, figurines,
Often with a whistling hole.
Men were nuts about playing ball
Until fell the saddest pall
On our lands and the spirit was gone.’
Thus we spake, about games
Played then and now,
The cultures and places
Wherefrom athletes big and small came.
Over years we exchanged
Facts, poetry, fiction, shards of pottery,
Noted social and kingly vagaries,
Illustrated ballplay rites varied
And cooked up a story pot-pourri.
- Bolbul
A Nodding Crown
Once, to satiate the taste for tamales,
Atoto took me to Iztli’s
Whose wife Meca baked marvels of corn,
With kingly recipes .. for generations handed down.
Despite the delectable treats,
Served with cactus flowers, gravies and sweetmeats,
I most recall the host’s fierce, multi-plumed personality,
From the evening’s memories.
Tossing a rubber ball at me,
Iztli had stretched his only
Hand… checking if I could catch
And accept friendship simultaneously.
Within minutes, how well deserved
That feathery diadem of birds
Fluttering and humming was,
I discovered… for under it
A virtual library he stored,
Of ball courts and players, suitably geared.
Comparing cultures, ball games and rituals,
‘Mesoamerica,’ he said drawing lines
On ground, ‘had stadia over 2400 combined,
Of stone, shapes standardized
In the form of letter ‘I’.’
His ancestral tribe around Oaxaca,
Where ruled the Olmec family of Meca,
Had played games of the ball before 1600 BC,
Offered them to gods ritualistically,
Rewarded winners and punished losers heavily.
‘Now let’s hear the old world history!’
Gobsmacked, with the inventory
Under his plumed head,
I blurted, ‘Iztli, I know not much!
Say, couldn’t we all travel to Egypt?!’
But Iztli was already nodding excitedly,
‘Yo Meca,’ he said, ‘pack some tamales!’
– Bolbul
Name Paean to Sunny
On, on play for folks, Sunny
Cricket’s crowning blade, Sunny
Centurian nonpareil, Sunny
All the world prevailed, Sunny
Pillar Atlantean of greens, Sunny
Yudhishthir pitch-mid, serene, Sunny
Dadar Mumbai lamp, Sunny
Team yajnya’s feeding hand, Sunny
Floppy head, cotton blanc, Sunny
Padded, gloved, magic wand, Sunny
Flash first of billion hopes, Sunny
Ray last at day’s close, Sunny
Swell in fan hearts, Sunny
Master courageous arts, Sunny
Mower lightning pace, Sunny
Sage, concentrated face, Sunny
Stringer four petal blooms, Sunny
Aromatizer directions four, Sunny
Bouncer receiver, poised Sunny
Hooker beyond compounds, Sunny
Never spin bamboozled, Sunny
Striking clean, clear-head, Sunny
Out off stump untempted, Sunny
On stump, dispatcher in contempt, Sunny
Lionine in struggling seventies, Sunny
Lionized legend of the eighties, Sunny
Radio commentary treasure, Sunny
Television’s nerve center, Sunny
Perfect from debut test, Sunny
Apical till innings final, Sunny
David little in first series, Sunny
Goliathan master at end, Sunny
Charioteer over seven seas, Sunny
Carrying home victories, Sunny
Youth model for the age, Sunny
When cloudy, casting sunrays, Sunny
Tune setter for teens, Sunny
Rebellious, articulate and funny, Sunny
Aryan striped tiger, Sunny
Shear clawed captain, Sunny
Spirit enlivening fizz, Sunny
Weaknesses all uplift, Sunny
Embodier classical heroism four, Sunny
Handsome, fiery, liberal, calm, Sunny
On, on play for folks, Sunny
Cricket’s crowning blade, Sunny
– Bolbul
In honor of cicketer Sunil Gavaskar… an architect of modern India. His heroism kept the poet youth… to live commentary glued.
श्री सनी नामावली
क्रीड क्रीड जिष्णुजनाधार सनी ।
क्रिकेटमुकुट कंबुजयकार सनी ।
शतकशूर हस्तौ यष्टिधार सनी ।
यशकीर्तिभात जगजात सनी ।
तृणक्षेत्रे स्तंभसमान सनी ।
पिचसुस्थित निर्विकार सनी ।
दादरनंदन मुम्बईमंडन सनी ।
भारततपोवन प्रभंजन सनी ।
फ्लौपीमंडित श्वेतधारी सनी ।
हस्तप पादरक्षकसः मुरारी सनी ।
प्रथमकिरण विजयाभियान सनी ।
अंतरश्मि दिवस अवसान सनी ।
त्वरितकंदुकेन निर्भीक सनी ।
वकोध्यानी मुनिगुणी सनी ।
चत्वारोवली मालाकार सनी ।
चतुर्दिक सुगंधप्रसार सनी ।
दर्शकहृद उत्साह सनी ।
राष्ट्रहित चमत्कार सनी ।
बाउंसराभिमुख शांत सनी ।
हुकहुंकार वल्लपात सनी ।
स्पिन ननु किंकर्तव्यविमूढ़ सनी ।
वेधक तस्य चक्रव्यूह सनी।
सप्ततिदशके युवाशार्दूल सनी ।
अष्टिदशके संपूजित केशरी सनी ।
आकाशवाण्याम् कर्णधन सनी ।
दूरदर्शने स्नायुस्पंदन सनी ।
आदि श्रृंखलाया: सिद्ध सनी ।
अंतपर्यंत: अच्युतोप्रसिद्ध सनी ।
सिंधुपार लक्ष्यतः सारथी सनी ।
तिग्मनीतिज्ञ जयीमहारथी सनी ।
युगादर्श प्रतिमान सनी ।
युवमानस कृतसूर्य सनी ।
किशोरकर्ण मधुगान सनी ।
स्मित आनन अमिताभ सनी ।
समशार्दूल आर्यकप्तान सनी ।
वज्रनख सर्वरिपुसंहार सनी ।
प्रजा मनोबल वर्द्धन सनी ।
क्षीणानाम् पीन गर्जन सनी ।
ललित प्रशांत उद्धत उद्दात्त सनी ।
नायक धीर चतुर्विध आप्त सनी ।
कोटिश: वदन मुस्कान सनी ।
शंभु प्रेषित गण देवसमान सनी ।
स्मः तव नित्यदिन ऋणी ।
गुरु सहचर स्मरणीय सनी ।
क्रीड क्रीड जिष्णुजनाधार सनी ।
क्रिकेटमुकुट कंबुजयकार सनी ।
– बोलबुल
Two, One, Zero
Wide kid eyes his… would hug
What instantly became a flying rug,
Waiting at the door…
With a curly haired maestro
Astride, waving a bat that scored
Two hundred and twenty runs
At Trinidadian… Spain’s Port.
They took off as crowds roared,
To where waved palm fronds on golden shores…
The kid felt the endorsement
At electrified Queen’s Park Oval,
For each of the Little Master’s twenty two fours.
Such mornings, times thirty four,
The kid flew to grasses glorified,
Encircled by eyes divinely satisfied
On the rug woven by scribes.
In retrospect, he feels obliged
To offer eternal thanks for the rides.
– Bolbul
Empyreal
Once a supra-constitutional emperor, Gavaskar,
Ruled India, her upper and nether.
Such was the arc of his blade,
That cannons hurling balls hell-made
At his kingdom, wilted limp as grass
Caribbean, Australian or English raised.
Countless projectiles he aimed
Through enemy covers, travelled
Far beyond the fence, entering space…
Where they spread the opening message
Of his country’s soul-lifting ingeniousness.
Fans dance like radiowaves
Still, when playing their own tunes
With willows… full of
Little-masterful rembrances.
– Bolbul
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