The cheel comes down with a “chee chee chee”

(cheel means a black kite)

The grand ma shouts, “Hide the kids,”
While the cheel flaunts it’s aviation skills.
The wife stood straitening her hair in the balcony,
The cheel came straight at her screaming “chee chee chee.”
The husband waved the broom stick at the cheel,
Yet the cheel flew down again and again – Threatening him with “chee chee chee.”
With revengeful speed, it swooped down, with angry eyes, beaks wide open.
Charging “One, two, three, four, five, six, and seven…” times,
Till it got tired.
Yes, and placed itself strategically, on the top of the peepal tree.
Bihari women come there often in a shining saree,
To light the lamps below the tree, already lit with street lamps.
Their children go to school, read science.
Yet, the ancient fear keeps their minds shrouded in beliefs.
The high voltage wire sheathed in plastic cover, passed three feet above the mud lamps.
The warning sign written on the wall,
Turns invisible against the women’s beliefs from a bygone era.
The cheel comes often, attacking humans on third, fourth and fifth floor, when not searching for food.
It comes straight screeching with the sound “chee chee chee”.
The husband smiled at the determined bird, naming it “Mother India”.