The poor on the street bargained
Onions, potatoes at Rs 30 a kg,
A small cauliflower at Rs 32
Beans and other veggies at 90
The list was endless
Tomatoes, carrots, peas
Were out of the budget
Heavily he trudged along to a store
Hoping to buy and cook dal
With ‘that’ at least
He could swallow a morsel
To his horror… he recoiled
‘ Toovar’ was above 160 a kg
‘Moong’ ‘urad’ and ‘chana’ no less
His shoulders slumped…
Dejected he walked out
Sweating in the cold breeze
Dots of perspiration lined his forehead
He might… he might… he thought
Buy him-self a banana… perhaps….
That could replenish…
But he staggered that too …
One at Rs 3
Tired and exhausted, he sat down
Beneath a warm old banyan tree
Sadly, he unrolled his paper
Took out a half-burnt ‘roti’*
And tried to swallow it bit by bit…
Searching hopelessly
Here and there for water
To brush it down
The lone municipal tap
Down the road just dripped,
Dripped… and dripped… a drop at a time
That too… was out of reach
For the common man who stands ignored,
The lucky few eat a low cost meal
Although they can afford to pay
The taxpayer’s money is drained to feed them
Yet they remain dissatisfied and grumble at the quality…
They know not what it is to go hungry
Their coffers are full…
The common man dies of thirst
While bottled water is served at no extra cost
What does price hike mean to them?
~Shobha Diwakar
Jabalpur, India
I could not refrain from commenting. Exceptionally well written!
thank you Jack for your encouraging comment
The Price Hike and The Bad Deal have long been proponents of ending tipping, a practice that s bad for waiters, bad for cooks and bad for consumers.