जयपुर · Jaipur

English

Is it the morning sun that brings the redness
that has turned the walls of Jaipur red?
Or were they splashed with blood
in the wars of the princely houses?
Or did hundreds of Padminis
wipe off their vermilion there,
where a ballad of sacrifice was written?
Or did the kings sitting in the Hawa Mahal
play a game,
take everyone for puppets
and offer them all up to war?
To hide all this
the walls were painted over,
the marks wiped away.
Since then these walls are red,
painted red upon red,
for fear the marks might surface again,
the marks in which lie buried the puppets’ cries,
the childhood of innocents,
the youth of men,
the defiance of the Padminis.
That is why the drums
are beaten so loudly,
and we are told how happy we are.
That is why the colour of Jaipur is red.