Charity

Dr Simmi Gurwara Professor & Head, Department of English, GNIT, Greater Noida.

I saw her at the traffic signal
Draped in a muddy sari that quietly struggled to cover her
Impoverished measly modesty.
Sidling from one wheeler to another, she had the most
Telling expressions scripted on her fallen face, inviting the idlers to leaf through.
Her past present and future, oozing from her pores,
Reminded me of a frame that i found hanging majestically
At a friend’s spacious villa. She looked stricken;
Sulky and swollen.
She wasn’t affected by the leery lookers  
In the least by unsympathetic sympathizers.
She was lost in the alley of time,
That audaciously ruled and lopped the tentacles of her lifeline;
With eyes gone bleary, she ambled towards me
And glanced inside the window;
I flinched for a while.
“She is young”, “she can earn her living”
“Giving alms is sin” –the empty noises circled my mind,
Leaving me befuddled with my charitable beliefs
As they find ease and comfort
In simple routines, unchallenged by the grimness
That seeps into uncommon gestures
That are inconveniently tried to answer
An awkward situation.
I extended my hand to pass on a tener,
Which she grabbed with empty eyes,
Matching the emptiness of my concern
and quickly moved on.
I looked in her direction with some
Philosophical conjecture and shrugged
My responsibility as a responsible citizen.

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