Pavement Dwellers Poem by Natarajan Ramaseshan

The impoverished Ganesa in an
improvised ramshackle abode
presides over the
proceedings of the
pavement dwellers.

The fluttering flags
atop poles
always show the direction
of the political wind.

Cloggy combs, broken mirrors
constitute their
make-up kits.

Reed mats, rusty boxes,
plastic pots are their
petty belongings.

Sharing their lot
stray dogs stay there
safe-guarding nothing.

The sounds of speeding vehicles are
sonorous lullabies to their
slumbering children.

Born in poverty-
it is their only
'Birth right'.

Yet...
a poster on the adjoining wall
proudly proclaims
'Indeed great is our Bharat! '.