ZEBRA

1. TNN/ REUTERS:

Mumbai: In yet another tragic incident on the Andheri intersection, an unknown black SUV going at more than 100 kmph according to eyewitnesses, lost control and swerved onto the wrong side, killing one and injuring another three. The deceased has been identified as Aunindo Bannerjee, 22. The driver and the vehicle, both remain unidentified....

2. NANDOR MA (Calcutta):

“That Tuesday dawned; cold and odorless

Bombay was in a cloak of suspense

The famous fog of Delhi had descended on it

It seemed, just for that day”

3. KUNAL (Goa):

“'That girl' with a face like Paripriya and the name of a river

Stood on the corner of the Fifth and MG

At the precise moment of the 'incident'

She was listening on her walkman to that song

With the lines, “Gold Teeth and a curse for this town”

And musing-

(Whether or not to look at the man in the green pullover)

'That man' tore away from that 2BHK

And his girl

And her city

Seconds before the incident

Tears rolled down his face

Wetting the lenses”

4. DHRUBO (London):

“In the middle of the Andheri intersection

When I cradled his head in my lap

There were no famous last words

No soul stirring speeches

Not even delirium

Only screeching silence

Nando and I had planned on writing a play together

We would have gone to Paris that summer

I still think about it sometimes

When I'm very happy or very sad

Until I start feeling guilty

You see, it was me he was coming to meet, that morning”

5. VARSHA (Old Delhi):

“There are no photographs anywhere

Of Aunindo as a grown up

Except the one that was everywhere

After the “incident”;

It seemed he was destined to remain forever the bashful teenager

Who fell in love with too beautiful a woman....

But he was also the only boy who could make me laugh

Remember that Salil Kaku joke that always came up on every family reunion

That time in our old Esplanade flat after Chandni's birthday

How funny he was!

When everyone was taking home the leftovers

And Salil Kaku came up the elevator with a bag of laundry clothes

And Nando had quipped that Kaku was even carrying away the gifts in it?

Well, it wasn't always what he said

But how he said it”

6. AUNINDO (Heaven):

“I'm trying to walk but I can't

I discover that I'm lying on my back

Suddenly, a wind comes and blows my soul away like a feather

I look back at the two of you I am leaving behind

And that's when I realize that

Friendship would not be possible anymore

While my ashes may be scattered all over Andheri

I will remain forever in Jadavpur University

Walk again on the memories I had once stayed away from

Complete all the poems I had once started

And scare you two at nights”

7. JULIO RIBEIRO (Panchgani):

“A hundred and forty people die every year in road accidents in Mumbai alone

But Nando was a good boy

When his mother told him as a nine year old not to go outside without sunscreen

He listened

And he could balance a spoon on his nose and stay like that for hours”

8. CAPOTE (Louisiana)

“At the end of the poem

We watch Dhrubo as he disappears from these pages and into the distance

Tall, devastatingly good looking; his long hair blows in the wind

A handsome young poet as Nando might have been”

9. 'THAT GIRL' (East of Andheri):

“He was wearing a green cashmere sweater over faded blue clearance sale jeans

At exactly six twenty seven-

He turned slightly over his left shoulder to look at me

When the black Toyota crashed into him at 106 kmph

And killed him instantly”

10. 'THAT MAN' (from 2BHK):

“There were no witnesses

No one saw me there

But every mouthful I ate that week

Tasted like it had his blood in it”