This Lockdown Season Show Your ‘Home Love’: Chennai Poet Ekshikaa

Video Editor: Ashish Maccune
Producer: Smitha TK

This lockdown has shut each one of us inside our homes and there cannot be a better time to discover oneself and bond with the family.

Chennai based Ekshikaa S pens a beautiful poem about how during this tough time, let us unravel old stories, chat with our grandparents and relive our childhood. Let us pray for our frontline workers risking their lives to save ours. Let us fill our homes with love and laughter and share it with everyone around.

“I know you’re anxious. And I am too. But as long as we’re alone together, we will get through.”

So here we are.

Locked down within the walls of our own home,
that we fought to make our own.

Within the warm bricks born from the kilns of heat,
Walls of mortar and stones round us
Built from the earth with clay or mud.

Here we are.
Safely tucked.

Remember,
This is the home that wrapped its arms around you
while you were being raised.
This is the home that welcomed every inch of your beauty, edges and flaws.
This is the home where you came back to every night
with a room full of dreams, a thousand tears and a million thoughts.
This is the home that watched you fall in love with no judgement.
The only space that let you stay awake and alone,
safe and heard.
The home that knows your secrets and doesn't say a word.

It is time to give back, some of that love.
It is time to hear the stories of our house.

Today, we will straighten a photo frame over the wall
And push our furniture against the back,
allowing the kids on the run across the hall without scarring their shins,
while we will dance in the centre.
Today, we will take out our most beautiful tablecloth -
the one with lacy edges and tulips sown in -
to dine with our finest ceramic bowls.
Today we will use those turquoise sheers we’ve been saving,
as we quietly close our books are and place it on the rack,
snuggled inside a blanket that hugs us back.

It is time to ask your grandfather about the marble floors.
It is time to embrace the corners that watched you laugh.
It is finally time to open that lonely window,
that’s been shut with stories of the past.

Fix the wobbly leg of your ancestral rosewood chair.
Unravel the secrets of the loft and wipe the mirrors for a better tomorrow.
Bring out the photo albums and arrange them on the shelves,
fill the space with memories instead.
With your body at its peaks and troughs,
and your mind - a little frayed, a little soft , a little tough.

Decorate it like it is your own.
And hit refresh on our home.

Really live in the warmth, and not just use it.
Run your fingers over the details that you took for granted.
Let the walls be white but fill your pages with words and colours.
And let there be sunlight.
Talk over a cup of warm honey tea.
Sing your favourite songs
not just among the tiles but in the kitchen.
Water your plants, and make friends with them!

Dress up for your next meal!
Run your toes over the carpet.
jump on the couch
Place your favourite toy on the window sill you like.

And most importantly, pray.

For the fighters on the line, struggling to save lives.
Pray that it is not anyone’s last smile.
Surround yourself with love and find your spot, your home within a home.

I know you’re anxious. And I am too.
But as long as we’re alone together,
we will get through.