It costs four times his fees, but when one is forlorn,
a little indulgence combats the blues. I summoned
the family doctor when an intense bout of influenza
stormed me.
Questions and some concerns later, the prescription
was handed over in exchange for my customary
speech and cash. It struck me that my maid of
thirty-plus years was in the rump of the residence.
I requested the medic to record her blood pressure.
He signaled her to sit on the black leather sofa, but
before that, he muttered, “Can she?” I smiled wanly
“Of course.”
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Sanjeev Sethi
Picture Nick Victor
Sanjeev Sethi is an award-winning poet who has authored eight poetry collections. His poems have been published in forty countries and appear in over 600 journals and anthologies. Some credits: London Magazine, The Fortnightly Review, Stand Magazine, Erbacce Journal, 3:AM Magazine, London Grip, Morphrog, North Dakota Quarterly, Hamilton Stone Review, NOON | journal of the short poem, Postcolonial Text, and Indian Literature.
Sethi curated Dreich Planet # India, an anthology for Hybriddreich, Scotland, in December 2022. In October 2025, he edited Fictile Feelings, a poetry special for The Hooghly Review. He is the joint winner of the Full Fat Collection Competition-Deux, organized by the Hedgehog Poetry Press, UK. In 2023, he won the First Prize in a Poetry Competition by the National Defence Academy, Pune. He recently served as a judge of the Wood Rose Spiritual Poetry Prize 2026. He lives in Mumbai, India.
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