The Mars Visit

My elder daughter, Smita, unveils her success in pre-final selection in the competition organized by NASA on “Red Rover goes to Mars.” In the back of my mind, poetry mingles with science, fusing a different music.

As a Geologist, I understand the evolutionary history of the planets, especially the Earth: poetically, Earth is Mars’ sister, ever smiling and charming. There lies many similarities in the evolution and morphological expressions of the stellar bodies.

The stream of flow of science swells on the table top discussion: some suggestive studies of soil samples to unveil the presence of remnants of infant of life, the possibility of finding water and the envisaged mineral wealth, etc., are drafted for the desired scientific essay for final submission. After a day long discussion, in a dream, I look back to the sky and feel walking with my daughter on the reddish surface, closely viewing the cosmic outcrops!

kite-filled sky
the birds fly to touch
the height

Pravat Kumar Padhy is a petroleum geologist in ONGC, India. His literary works are referred in Spectrum History of Indian Literature in English, Alienation in Contemporary Indian English Poetry. His short poems, haiku and tanka have appeared in numerous publications.