Friday, July 22, 2011

where we shall rest

This is what i came across today on my journey to work. Parked by the side of a very busy road are tourist buses from other neighboring towns and villages - packed to its seams not with tourists but with the poor, homeless families who have saved every penny to make that trip here to the Dargah (shrine). Because the fasting month is approaching, these devotees have come to live in or around the Dargah, ensuring free lunches and dinners for themselves and their children. They camp on any free space there is by the sides of the roads. You see people spreading thin cloths and laying under the buses to seek shelter from the burning sun. Roofs of buses are used as prime areas to dry their clothes. You also see countless pairs of feet poking out of the windows as some try to nap away. In the evening, when it's a bit cooler, you find men climbing to the top to lay under the stars. Kids are running everywhere, with no footwear whatsoever. Some don't even wear clothes, sitting butt-naked on the burning stone footpaths. You see kids, perched in the middle of nowhere, washing dishes before the next meal distribution begins. There exists no concept of "dirt", "dirty", "smelly", "disgust" and all things that we complain of. This is what you call making the best of what you've got. Excuse the quality of the image as i was in a moving Auto.

No comments: