If this myth is alive
for me then why isn’t it for you?
How does a myth stay alive?
How many people does one need in order
to keep a myth alive?

Do you know what if feels like
to pick green tea-leaves that grow
on the other side of the path across from the guava trees -
to pick green tea-leaves 
moments before the water boils?

I don’t know why I turn to Parvati, daughter 
of the Himalayas - but I do.
“Parvati, oh Parvati
where is the mountain today, where did you
take it away?
Parvati,
oh Parvati, hide the tea-leaves
while they’re still growing -
don’t let them come near Darjeeling.

Parvati
why did you let Twinings take everything?

Parvati
I must confess
I like Twinings the best.

Do you wash your hair everyday?
Do you have enough shikakai?”

In the first story she was
taking a bath, washing her hair,
becoming drowsy in the soft water,
she was slow, she dawdled in order to regain
all her energy
all her shakti-fragrant self
               for Shiva.

Those whose blood flows to the rhythm of om
whose soul resound om, om,
clear om, underwater om,
om spontaneously
without ever meaning to say it -
That om caught Parvati and kept her
alive, and keeps her always bathing.   
always braiding her hair.

I must have breathed om, however accidentally,
because Parvati stops me.
We argue. Why should I fight with her?
But I do.
Why can’t she even protect the tea leaves?

Heathen,
Pagan. Hindu.
What does it mean, what is a pagan?
Someone who worships fire?
Someone who asks Parvati to account for 
the Industrial Revolution.


Parvati - the Hindu Goddess of power, nourishment, harmony, devotion, and motherhood. 

Shiva is the third god in the Hindu triumvirate. The triumvirate consists of three gods who are 
responsible for the creation, upkeep and destruction of the world. The other two gods are Brahma 
and Vishnu. ... Shiva's role is to destroy the universe in order to re-create it.