Befriending a couple is like arriving
in a European town where the language[1]
is unfamiliar to you. Schoolgirls sing
near the synagogue of apricots, sage—
What did you hear? What did you recognise?
Zucker, or cukr, or شکر or azucar[2]?
A forensic attempt can jeopardise
brunch plans—you’ve got the backseat in their car,
They take you one afternoon to the zoo:
hippopotamus, gazelle, great hornbill,
the gharial sunning itself, a kangaroo.
“What did we see last time? Is it here still?”
They laugh—you know you’ve misread
their intentions: they won’t confess a thing.
The tram surprises you. They walk ahead.
You try to listen to the schoolgirls sing.
[1] In Before Sunrise (1995), answering Jesse’s (Ethan Hawke) question as to how she speaks such good English, Céline (Julie Delpy) says: “I went to school for a summer in Los Angeles.” A little later, she playfully mocks him by saying: “I knew you were American. And of course, you don’t speak any other language right?” The action of the film takes place mostly in Vienna.
[2] German, Czech, Urdu, and Spanish words for “sugar”. They all sound very similar, pointing to a common root.
Published in Cider Press Review, Volume 23, Issue 6.
Uttaran Das Gupta is a New Delhi-based writer and journalist. He has published a book of poetry (Visceral Metropolis, 2017) and a novel (Ritual, 2020). He teaches journalism at O P Jindal Global University.
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