Random Thoughts

it was three in the afternoon and the road had become very hot. Reema didn't have any slippers on, and her feet had now started to get tired. more troublesome were the stray pieces of concrete, which every now and then used to come under her toes. She had lost the count of the times she had told papa to bring her a pair of slippers. he always promised to bring them a few days later, but always forgot. Reema didn't mind, however. she knew they were poor. very poor, in fact. every morning mummy and papa used to leave her and her two brothers on the pavement and then go away in search of work. sometimes they would come in the evening with some rotis and she had something to eat. on other days she had to sleep hungry. once the aunty living in a nearby tent had given her a piece of biscuit which she had found lying on the street. the biscuit was dirty, but Reema liked it. it was sweet.

Ah, food !!! suddently she remembered she hadn't had anything since last evening. yesterday some big policmen had come and had destroyed all the tents that were there on the pavement. mummy and papa had pleaded with them saying that they didn't have anywhere else to go and that the boys were too young, but those khaki-wallahs didn't listen. so in the morning papa had put her brothers on a thela, had put whatever utensils had been left from the lathis of those policemen, and had told Reema to drive it to another place. she didn't know the place, and papa had spent a good deal of time explaining the route to her. he and mummy would come in the evening to the new place after they would return from the work.

the road was nearly deserted, and there were very few cars. somtimes Reems thought if she had an older brother, who was lost when he was very young. how good would it feel if he owned a car now, she wondered. he would come in his big car, stop by her rickshaw, and give her a ride to the new place. no, no - she thought. if he was that rich probably she wouldn't have to live on the streets in the first place itself. but it didn't matter if he was not that rich. she wouldn't mind if he would just give her some good food and some colorful clothes. earlier she used to feel bad when she used to see girls of her age wearing fancy clothes. she didn't feel that any longer. she had more important things to worry about.

a big boy on a sports cycle was coming from the opposite side of the road and was constantly looking at her. this was strange, Reema thought. usually people looked at her as if she didn't exist at all. had she taken some stuff from him ? that was unlikely, as she only took things that were left on the streets. or maybe he wanted to give her something to eat. or maybe, just maybe, he was the older brother for who she was praying to the god so passionately ? she was thinking these things as he finally took his eyes off her, dropped his head as if he had been defeated in the sole purpose of his life, and drove past her.

Reema looked ahead. all she knew was that she had 3 more turns to take, and it was getting hotter. her hands had already started to ache from the effort of pulling the thela.

P.S.: on a busy road just touching my campus walls, there are homeless families living on the pavement. a few days ago i was driving my cycle on that road at 3 in the afternoon when I saw a young girl, who I have called Reema, pulling a thela. she was carrying her two younger brothers and some household utensils on them. Reema was six years old, and 4 feet tall. the thela was taller than her shoulders.

how would you have felt if you were the person on that cycle, and the girl had been your real sister ?