Walking On Our Roads Poem by Venkateswaran Krishnan Sreenivasan

Walking on our roads is not as gay as you say
Before you venture out, to the gods you pray
For blessings to let you see another day
Not crippled or maimed but in mettle to stay

Seal your mouth and nose so tight
That no stink or dust will mar your sight
Keep your eyes and ears wide open
As none can portend what might happen

Be wary of treading on sidewalks too
As they are usurped for vending and loo
You might trip and break your bone and tooth
No right of way for our legs in truth

We walk for a health giving breath of air
And what we get from loving Nature’s share
Are foul fumes of exhaust air
Sowing healthy habits to reap disease unfair

Suicide needs not to hang a rope
Tangle free to end life sans hope
In gay abandon on our roads you walk
No ordeal or rumour your dear ones stalk

Our thoroughfares, do they deserve that name?
Potholed and littered, they are a shame
Built with intent to kill and maim
The unwary travelers, robust or lame

Hiking as a way of life has given place to biking
The zigzag course the bikers ride is shocking
With their entire flock behind and overtaking
The speeding buses, to risk one’s life is not joking

Thousands come to their journey’s end
On our roads under the wheels, with none to attend;
Countless victims maimed, are left to spend
Their last days of misery, on others to depend



Traveling on our roads is a great misadventure
Riskier than Hilary’s Everest venture
The motorist makes a moment’s mournful story
The mountaineer is inscribed for ever in history