The Old Women Sitting beside the Road

The three old women from the Charity Home

Sit beside the road

On the brick fence

Watching the rushing traffic

Cars, buses, trucks, vans, motorcycles

People riding them are all strangers

Nobody waves at the old women

Nobody alights to speak to them

Yet, every afternoon at four

You’d find them lined by the road

Enjoying the maddening rush.

          How a person’s world shrinks

          When she grows old and weak

          One day years ago, she shopped in the market

          She visited her relatives with joy

          She hopped pandals after pandals

          Bowing to Durga idols reverently

          Rubbing shoulders with thousands others

          Munched puchkas with relishing cheeks

          At the streetside stalls         

          She perhaps had a job to earn

          However simple, however meager

          But that blessed her with self-respect

Now, she is stretching her hands

Doing whatever she can to prevent

Her world from shrinking

She called me to speak some words

I stood near her for two minutes

To lend my hand to her effort.

After some days perhaps

Her 3x6 feet cot will be her world

While the traffic on the road

Would keep zooming by!

Xavier Bage

Sat, Oct 14, 2017