HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY

Leaning against a concrete wall he was sitting
Both his legs folded with arms resting on his cheeks
Looking pensive
She was glancing at him
With penetrating eyes.
Ragged clothes,
Knicker torn and grimy,
Shirt like-wise.
He didn’t care her looks.
“Never mind”- she whispered smilingly.
Commuters alighting
From the platforms,
Some elegantly dressed,
With brief-cases in their hands,
“Peak hours”- she recalled
Some frantically rushing ahead
to their destinations
Some to a nearby hotel to have a cup of tea and idly chutney.
Hotel already packed to capacity
Like a glassful of water,
Ladies in vanity-bags hanging over
their shoulders
In singles and groups
Announcements of train timings.
Frequent, loud, but melodious,
Piercing sounds of
Trains rushing past
Hooting sirens
She was watching him
Not sympathy, but empathy
Love, warmth, affection.
‘Your name?
A moment of refusal
“Vital”-he murmured.
“Where you live?”
He frowned but she kept on smiling.
In the railway platform
His indifferent looks,
“Your parents?’
“None”- his stoic reply
“Where you spend your nights?”
He was getting angry, felt like she getting on his nerves.
“In railway platforms”- the same indifference
“No idea?”
No answer forthcoming.
Gone to school?”
No answer forthcoming.
“Shall I take your photo?”
He waved his hands in permission but showing no interest
She took out the camera hanging from her shoulders
It was like one of her organs
Camera flashed intermittently.
He hung his head in anger.
She stood still for a while.
“Had anything in the morning?”
Never cared to raise his head.
“Tell me, my son.”
He looked up with
Tears in his eyes.
Again hung his head.
Reluctant to leave him
she stood still.
“Mother India goes on weeping for you
Since time immemorial, my son”
She was looking somewhere
Then moved away
With her head hung in shame.
Something she felt touching from behind.
The boy was running away
with her purse.
“Empty pocket”-
She smiled to herself
“My son has the right,
to snatch away anything
From me, his mother”
She was glad.
A burden unburdened from her heart.
She walked away, was all smiles.