Teesta Review: A Journal of Poetry, Volume 3, Number 2. November 2020. ISSN: 2581-7094
THE KOPOU (A
PROSE POEM)
An orchid,
which comes into full bloom announcing the arrival of spring when the cuckoo
too, trills an arietta, without which every arbour in an Assamese household is
barren, the kopou is the harbinger of hope and love. Come bohag bihu and the
young damsels clad in mekhela sador ready to groove to the rhythm of the dhol
and the pepa, shall pine for the kopou as much as their love, to weave it round
their delicately tucked buns.
This bihu
too was no different for her while she waited for her beloved to return
home. As if on a recce, she had been
keeping a special eye on the kopou plant right from the day the tender florets
appeared on its nimble stem. Days hastened as she could wait no longer and the
moment came when it was in full bloom resembling a feathery tassel. She had
carefully culled it but waited for him to decorate it in her hair. Her heart
fluttered as she anticipated his arrival. But much to her chagrin, this wait
lingered but her eyes frantically kept searching the hazy horizon. Hours
drifted into days, days into months, but he didn’t return. The kopou lay
stranded in a quiet corner, this time adorning no tresses, the tangled buds
splitting up and giving way to a withered and putrid mass. While in a distant
land many miles away, the rumble of footfalls could be heard accompanying a
freedom song…
(N.B. Bohag
bihu is a harvest festival of Assam, the dhol and pepa are traditional Assamese
musical instruments, the mekhela sador is the traditional dress worn by an
Assamese woman)