*** We had a watchman working for us, about 6 months back. He once told me of his story and the heart ailments he is suffering from and asked for help. I promised him to do whatever I could. After some time, he stopped coming to work. Yesterday I heard about his death. Here is a person who could have been very well saved by medicine, but let to die, because of his financial in-capability for which the society is also a reason ****

/*Dedicated to our erstwhile watchman with prayers that it should not be repeated */

As I walk bare-foot from my little shed
Lying on the banks of the cooum* bed
I keep recounting my life's past
Donno how long my memory will last..

Those days I was the son of a farmer
In a remote village dependent on agriculture
I enjoyed my school days in sunlight
Never again my life had been so bright..

I was made to learn my father's profession
Who left me with no other possession
When farming got into permanent recession
I lost my livelihood and position..

My lands were dispossessed for peanuts
Methodically by micro-credit magnets
Whatever left the government took over
I came to this city as a pauper..

Why all this land acquisitions and merger.?
They say it is industrializing agriculture..
To transform all these uneducated owners
To a new India filled with educated workers!

I do all the dirty works in the city
Never complained against the society
The winds of change lifts up some
Natural that many others go down

I live alongside dogs and cattle
Daily life is an uphill battle
One of the slaves of this democratic nation
Made to live on Government ration..

Time has punched many a hole
In my education, wallet or life as a whole
A hole in the heart is the latest toll
My life continues on a downward roll

Don't worry, there is a definite cure
Doc says, my survival is sure
But lakhs are needed for the operation
Better to follow it with expensive medication..

I want to live, I want to live
I have not, few hundreds to give
Neither Cunning Nor know to con
Nitwit Iam, is there a dawn..?

I want to live, I want to live
Even in the stench that cooums* give
Even if my stomach is only half full
Enjoy my life with its push and pull

The smoke filled chaos of the bustling city
Concrete jungles sprinkled with trees
Roaming Cattle, dogs, dust and the dins
Garbage overflowing in the broken bins

I want to live and feel all these..
I am ready to live like cattle on the streets
To build roads, houses or clean the sewage
Use me like a bull, ass or a slave..

Crores and crores of slaves like me
Creating the fodder for the 'new' economy
Educated economists devise Economic models
Excluding us as a number in their figures..

Oh.. a pressure is building up in my chest..
I sit under a tamarind tree for some rest..
Waving its branches, it welcomes me..
Waiting is over, it says, come back free..

Pain bangs hard in my chest door
I reel down and lie on the floor
I look at the sky; it heaves a sigh..
"Poor guy, you are condemned to die.."

I lie on the ground in my final round
My desires still hover around..
Unconcerned, you let me die today..
Tomorrow, it could be you in my place..

-TBT

*cooum - An extremely polluted river running across the city of Chennai