A Peace of India

by Brian Mendonca


When we hosted lunch for our cousin Helga di Pascoale and her daughters Ciara and Cassiana yesterday, the colour red prompted me to recite my poem 'A Peace of India.'

A Peace of India

My heart is roaming in the wild blue yonder
But where I lie will always be Goa.
Between the black soil of the plains
and the red mud of the coast.
There for me is India's peace.

(1999, Enroute Goa Express)

Earlier, Helga was very appreciative of my books of poems. She bought both of them -- Last Bus to Vasco and A Peace of India -- and asked me to sign them.

Helga is my mum's brother Leo's daughter. We lost Guido, her husband, at the young age of 51. I picked up a gorgeous batik piece of cloth ochre in colour. It depicted a boatman /voddekara and his young wife? going to sell fish in the market. The girl's lips are in a pout. The man looks ahead, bare chested, impassive and with character. They loved it. Helga resides in London and works for BA.
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Self-published in Last Bus to Vasco: Poems from Goa by Brian Mendonca (New Delhi, 2006)