A Roadside Cameo

New people, new things, new experiences each day. Multiplexes, shopping malls, entertainment, Shahrukh Khan ruling hearts from posters, Ganguly – Dravid, Ronaldo, Information Technology. Lights, camera, fiction. Precisely this is what our daily life in the city is all about. Dazzling, isn’t it ? A life of glitz and glamour, gadgets and gossip. Yet there exists a different panorama of the everyday life of everyday people. A life of poverty and deprivation, illiteracy and hunger. A different story in the same old city.

You can see them almost anywhere in our City of Joy. Thin limbs, fragile structures, malnourished, with no scope to boast of a childhood, let alone a healthy one. Aboding the city streets, with a yearning for knowledge and a silent cry for love and care, they are the street children of Kolkata. Hard at ‘work’ the whole day, these children can’t even dare to dream of living a healthy, cheerful childhood. Some are rag pickers, some work in hotels, some are manual laborers, some just beg. The bones in the bag can well be counted, dressed in a ragged piece of cloth, these kids slave away trying to earn a square meal a day. Hidden away in the debris of ‘development’, you can see a bunch of them opposite the luxuriant spring club on E.M. Bypass. And at Jadavpur. And Gariahat. Tollygunje, Park Circus, Dalhousie….

Look once into their eyes and you will find a twinkle of intelligence and eagerness to know, to search, to learn. Look once more and you will find dejection and poverty. Maybe you will look once again, maybe not. You will say to yourself – “poor kids…” and leaving the sentence there, you’ll return to your daily life, too wrapped up in your work to spare another thought or a moment. I know I will do the same. Perhaps we all will fell, but that’s that. There will be nothing beyond that. A sigh is the maximum we can spare, or a melancholy stare, but the moment we return to the hustle and bustle of the urban world, all we can worry about is our work, our salary, our children, our social engagements. Once we return, the picture of their misery just fades, and we are left to be blissfully oblivious once again. Till the next time we are caught up in a traffic jam and a thin hand is extended inside our cars.

The process goes on. Ends in a circle. Never ends, perhaps. Who knows ? Who cares?

War

…
Now she stands
By the bed that was mine,
And holds in her hand
My toys, untouched since I was nine.
A single tear rests on her cheek
As she holds them to her heart,
I see her rush to the door
At the sound of the rumbling cart.

Now she returns slowly
To where my belongings are,
I see her gaze rest there,
Awaiting my return from the war.
Silently, she wipes away the tear
And sits alone, feeling my lack,
She pushes back the worst fear
She doesn't yet know, I can never come back.

For I was in the war,
Where I never wanted to be
I was always a dreamer,
And she was everything to me.
But now I'm gone
And see from high above
Her patience, her tears
Her fears, and her undying love.

I am sorry, mother
I can't come to you
This is common now,
And this life is new.
Don't weep, mother, smile
And know I'm at peace
Bless my soul, bid me goodbye
For, away from the war, this is bliss.

...And the Boggle-Blogdeedum was here

Being the self-obsessed creature that I happen to be, I begin by congratulating myself on finally making it to boggle-blogland. The much loved creature of words- Ishani, Anjee, Sreemoyee, The Inflamed Poet, Amrita 'Blob' De, Samik, and there are many such talented people- all have wonderful blogs in this boggle-land to their credit. For a long time now it's been on my mind, on and off, to own or not to own. No, beacuse of the very simple reason that I Have NOTHING to put up on this ceremonius space, am Really too lazy, tend to forget passwords, and Blogs are a huge responsibilty. It was a common resolve of The Chels and me, that being the laziest two-legged beings of the world, we are NOT going to have a blog. Ever. There have been motivations and urgings to join the blogwagon. That I actually have, is al thanks to the Mighty Circus, for the birth of her blog was the ultimate thing. Members of CriCo stick together. She has one now, and hence do I. Let's see what's next. Just one thing that I can guarantee the talented people of Boggle-land, you won't be bugged by me, I won't be around much, or for, long, and there will hardly be any posts. There IS Nothing I can put up, you see.
Enjoy, all!