the chicken roll

Today I took a cycle rickshaw from the noida city centre metro back home. The boy who rode it was no more than 20. I was to give home 30 rupees for the ride k home, a reasonably strenuous ride of about 10 may be 15 minutes in the burning sun. He did not even have a bottle of water with him to drink. Probably new to the trade. Midway he stopped to wrap his towel around his head for the sun was way too strong and the rickshaw does not have a roof over the driver. Death due to sunstrokes are not uncommon in these parts.

I was a bit lost as I usually am and realised he took the wrong route, he was lost and so was I.it took him a while to get me back to my place. Twice the regular route at least. He was drenched in sweat and breathless by the time we did. When I got off I gave him a 20 rs more, and then the roll I got from the station. I gave it on the pretext that it was chicken, many during the fasting  season keep off it. He almost exclaimed when I said it, this is chicken??? it wasn't, just a not so good paneer roll from the station vendor, but the way his face lit up I wished it was.

It was sad how the 20 rs did not bring such happiness as the remains of a may be chicken roll did

Of love and washing of the bum

Just saw the Kohler ad. They say hands are made for love...and not for washing our bums with, they imply.... Of course you can't do both with your hands!

of elephants and women and other vulnerable creatures of Uttar Pradesh

Read about Raju the crying elephant of Utter Pradesh. Aren't we ashamed of the way we treat others, elephants and human alike. Looks like we are not, even after a team flew down from London  (should spell seriousness) along with state authorities ( should spell law) the owner did not have the grace to let the animal go, he stood around to obstruct the process by goading the animal and shackling it further. A poor paper and plastic eating 50 year old elephant.

my sleeping child

The boy is asleep....the ghuppu thing that he is...eyes shut, the toothless actually tiny fanged right now, mouth closed in a pout.......the hair sticking out......sometimes I could just eat him up

There are dark places in motherhood..

There are dark places in motherhood...places where one is not sure if the rosy pictures painted in media are there just to fool women into reproducing, to keep the species going.

Where the men are allowed to go through life uninterruptedly, passing on the genes nevertheless. Whereas women with all the help in the world still spend at let 3 years per child......away from the life that was....the giving goes unnoticed, mostly unrewarded.