ghazal: "Siliguri en route to Nepal"

Every move on the chessboard of fate   they say is predestined
how you seek   whom you love   what you hate   they say is predestined

if the world is a congeries of bubbles   on what do they float?
that our boat is arriving   though late   they say is predestined

with elections   the border is closed?   wash clothes at a hotel
when you reach the monastery's gate   they say is predestined

Siliguri en route to Nepal   three years coming going
when a work-visa's stamp may await   they say is predestined

in the arbor of Shantiniketan   shade is discovered
where we wash up in poetry's state   they say is predestined

you return to Japan in ten days   shall we meet in Beijing?
how the sequence of moons waxes great   they say is predestined

room 5 at the Delhi Hotel (as it's called)   Siliguri
rather dingily charming   the rate   they say is predestined

there's a stupa in town worth visiting   time's brief abundance
turns us tourists by chance   travel's spate   they say is predestined

when last night I was tuning my sarangi   strings had grown tight
through what byways our hearts navigate   they say is predestined

I've a clothesline but not any clothespins   hence I've an errand
what particular tasks you narrate   they say is predestined

not yet noon when the world grows sweltering   Bengal late April
every droplet of sweat on your pate   they say is predestined

rice available at wholesale rate   a red-lettered sign
how some trace of your grace you relate   they say is predestined

when in evening the honking of horns greets the flutter of wings
of night's beauty   how poets may prate   they say is predestined

Raphael's resignation runs chill   like a creek in the dark
where it travels   while we cogitate   they say is predestined