Uruguay

My grandfather whom I knew and didn’t. Photograph taken by my mother Radha.

He once said
he was a man from Uruguay.
Oo-roo-g-way
not yoo-roo-gwai
which is how they said it in 2010
at the World Cup.

But this man
came long before.
In his driveway in the evening
he’d smoke and say
he was from Uruguay.
I’m from Uruguay

It wasn’t about football.

Or nationality.

Or culture.

Or Eduardo Galeano.

It wasn’t anything more than
what it sounded
which was nothing but the pleasure
on an afternoon in Chenikuthi
in the veranda smoking your favourite.

I can understand what it is to be
from Uruguay
when you’re in Guwahati.

I’m from Uruguay
who told my ancestors
where he was from
and what he did.
Now I do nothing but
mention in passing
that
he was a man from Uruguay.