People 3: Small Wonders
It’s my life.
The lady of the house bathes under a half laid pipe. Clothes on. Her husband watches guard. The sky, their roof. The morning sun fingers the scaffolding. Rubble pierces their hardened soles/souls. ‘Hurry up’ yells the fore-man. The day’s work waits. Hunching herself into a human ‘U’ she rushes into the shack. Her youngest wails.
Others idle around, sunken eyes and sunken bellies.
The bus of the corporate they are building to grow, whizzes by. A shirtless little man jumps up. His eyes light up with excitement. Up and down, up and down. He does a little jig of joy. Milk white teeth flash. A new day has begun.
The lady of the house bathes under a half laid pipe. Clothes on. Her husband watches guard. The sky, their roof. The morning sun fingers the scaffolding. Rubble pierces their hardened soles/souls. ‘Hurry up’ yells the fore-man. The day’s work waits. Hunching herself into a human ‘U’ she rushes into the shack. Her youngest wails.
Others idle around, sunken eyes and sunken bellies.
The bus of the corporate they are building to grow, whizzes by. A shirtless little man jumps up. His eyes light up with excitement. Up and down, up and down. He does a little jig of joy. Milk white teeth flash. A new day has begun.
Motion.
A national highway. The lifeline of the soft city. Chocablock with vehicles. Thick grey smoke clouds the atmosphere. And the minds stuck (in the traffic). Some lose patience. Some lose interest. Some others lose lives. The national highway. A life-line of the soft city. Chocked.
A sub-urban school. All of two rooms. And a neem tree. Routine deaf to the road gasping outside its gates.
Bell rings. Freedom.
Four nimble feet. Pushing the wind on the divider. A tight chase. Movement in the middle of stagnation. Giggles. Pursuer and the pursued. Taste of free air.
The traffic stopped. So did everything else.
Note:
I was listening to Bon Jovi’s “It’s my life” when I saw the exhilarated little fella. I couldn’t think of anything more apt for a title.
8 comments:
phenomenal, as usual. can't I get my fixes more often?
It's my life:
Look what your compelling interest in `developing the economy' has done to us. Aren't you interested in better BSE indices and better GDP than better life of your citizens ? Duh! The cursed middle class with their limited money and unlimited aspirations can only complain. Perhaps the destitutes - despite their monetary shortcomings - are blessed to enjoy their life.
Motion:
What's interesting to observe during a chockablock traffic jam is the irresponsible yet seemingly innocent faces that are willing to push others out of their way to get quickly to the place they want to go and then, perhaps do nothing worthwhile. God, someone please tell them `patience' and `humanity' are word that aren't yet eliminated from our dictionaries.
The notion of time, as I understand, is very subjective. On one hand, imagine a city-office-goer who curses that a day is only 24 hrs -- a busy professional, and on the other hand, a shepherd who during summer, takes out his sheep for grazing for a good six months. What a different idea of time they have!
- Aravindh
Nicely written!
"The morning sun fingers the scaffolding.", "The lifeline of the soft city." and "Routine deaf to the road gasping outside its gates." -- good writing this.
I can see you've worked your way through this :-) ... and these "People" posts are a refreshing change of style compared to the way you've written so far. The imagery is vivid -- a little more colour and sound perhaps?
Wage-labourers and schools in an urban setting - what's next?
PS: What's with the photographs?
@nero : :-) thanks.
@arvindh:
its my life :
well... that kid saw me lookin at him.. I grinned back, and he gave a bashful smile, but did not stop his jumping...
That shared moment actually made the rest of my day lighter.
Every one of us is blessed to enjoy life. Equally.
Motion:
The same office goer would have killed the seconds when he was waiting for his first job letter to arrive.And the same shepard would have grabbed the seconds when one of his flock strayed over the cliff. And they would still continue to have different perceptions of time !
@musafir :
Used to write like this once upon a time. But when no one noticed, gave it up.
The people series is something I want to please myself with. And incidentally, it has got someone to notice the style. Thanks for being observant. :-)
As for the photos, i have the habit of collecting pictures from forwarded mails, whenever they appeal. Was cleaning up my PC, and found some that could fit my posts.
Very good post..
Something that everyone could understand :D
sol, these are very good - the kind of staccato style is refreshing (and easy on the reader). Paints a pretty vivid picture too. Short and sweet.
ps: If those eyes was the one the complimenter was talking about, s/he is spot on :) ;)
beautiful......
@feni: :-) Thanks..
@G:
Thanks.. Hope I can continue to abstain from verbiage :-)
Well.. Eyes were the object of the compliment, but these arent those. :-)Put this pic, cos of the raised eyebrow.. as well as the eyes.. btw, left somethin on the media blog... do check it out..
@ feni and vyas : Thanks for visting my blog :-)
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