Saturday, September 17, 2011

At The Traffic Light

Hello my friends, my readers! This time, my thoughts go towards the poem I was editing on poverty( ref to last post). In the new city, I am astonished to see that so much of poverty still remains in our country! We brag about Formula 1 race tracks and multi -specialty hospitals and technology parks coming up, but what about poverty? Why is that swept under the carpet? I wrote the poem watching an impoverished girl on the street, begging and playing around so happily between running cars and speeding bikes! Similarly, now, many years later, I noticed there has been an outbreak of deadly viruses here and it is  due to the stagnant waters after floods and rain, bad hygiene, and poverty.
 Questions: Why can’t the government spray insecticides and provide a better standard of living? Are the poor so used to not doing work that they WANT to live this way at minimum cost? We have families living in our ‘out houses’, with crying children, and mothers working as helpers in our homes and their men- staying in the house-doing NOTHING ! Some don’t even send their children to school. The elder child stays at home to look after the babies. Why so many babies you ask? Well ,the women may have given birth to two daughters and hence wished a son for carrying the family name forward, or they are too poor to get operated, or they think ‘as many hands-as much money’.  
 And what will happen with the petrol prices going up- EVERYONE will be affected! It may soon be cheaper to eat out in a restaurant than at home! ……..And even drinking coffee will be a luxury!!!! So quickly…..grab yourself a hot strong mocha and read the poem below! Do let me know what you think!

At the Traffic Light


As the traffic light turned red, in all the din,
Sat a tiny girl,
With a bare torso,
a sweet smile, milk drop eyes,
and a dark chocolate skin,
With knees to her chin, and
two plastic cups in hand,
All her dreams and thoughts within.

Some saw her through their AC windows,
Some through their helmets and glares,
The horns blared, the traffic snarled
The petrol polluted the air.

The road was her school, her home, her bed hard,
With two plastic cups in hand, she played in her backyard,
One cup on the other, she created her rescue tower,
She looked through the plastic and her dream became sour,
One cup her tower come tumbling down,
In that instant gravity was learned and then she frowned,
She took the fallen cup and hit it with all her might,
She hit, it crackled, she hit it, with her tiny fist tight.

The tower now broken, yet one cup in hand,
She looked at it excitedly and filled it fully with sand,
Thoughts of a sweet drink, yet sand in her hand.

The cup filled with dirt, a cup full of positivity,
The traffic light turned green,
Her thirst was quenched, as she tipped the sand out,
she came back to reality.

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Naturally Wired

Hello my readers, my friends!  A new city, a new month and a new thought! Am in the new place and getting visits by the stray cows, monkeys and dogs who probably think my garden is a ‘drive in restaurant’! Well, I don’t bother them too much, I let them chomp on for some time and then drive the visiting creatures away.  Now that we humans have occupied their areas, we have to live with each other in peace. And, I finally watched the movie ‘Avatar’, yes, I waited for it to come on TV! I know, I know, a bit late, but nevertheless I  loved it, a tad slow but it had a good message of what might happen if we don’t live in tandem with nature.
This reminded me of a poem I wrote in frustration. It was a wonderful sunny winter day, when I decided to fine tune a poem on poverty. What kept on bugging me were two helicopters which kept on circling above my head! (My husband was posted in the ‘field area’ of the army-hence the helicopters) There was some VIP visit due, so they were practicing! But in that process they were not only annoying me but also, sleeping babies, and birds which flew in all directions confused! Then, later, I saw cows being stoned and driven away back to their barns as their ‘grazing time’ had ended for the day! I was amazed at how much pressure we give these animals, I never knew that the poor cows had to also follow army timings!!  Then, there came a time when we ladies would freak out when we heard a bell in the middle of the night, only to find out that this ‘wandering bell’ was a large black buffalo who had not returned, and would graze through the night!
So, the poem below was written while working on another one. It speculates on how life would be in the future, I have written it in short sentences, as if a computerized voice is saying the lines.  So have a cup of cold coffee and enjoy! Do let me know what you think!
Naturally Wired
Two helicopters circling above my head,
Oh! I remember, all the birds are dead!
A motor car running on the side,
Oh I remember……all the buffalos have pulled so hard they died!
Acid drops keep falling on my head!
Everywhere pollution has spread!
I am so alone yet I talk all the time?
Oh, I remember……… on my phone and online!
Acidity is burning my insides!
Oh! I remember………………. All vegetation is finished or dried!
Can’t feel any pain or cry?
Oh! I remember………….an artificial heart pumps inside!
]



Why dont you also read what the Fantastic Cow did to the Mayor for her rights- in my 'Blog of Short Stories'-have a look!