MOTHER – DAUGHTER DUO – TWO FROZEN MINDS

Indira and Malu
Mother and daughter,
Employed.
Father retired, relaxing
In the flat
A happy man now
After a life-long
Swimming and
Reaching ashore.
No Padma awards, No Bharat Ratna,
Lucky chap
Mother and daughter
Wake up early morning
Both in a hurry
Office two to three hours away
Ambarnath to Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus
Finish off routine chores
Glance at the clock on the wall
Umpteen times
Hour hand, Minute hand, Second hand
Ticking fast
Breakfast and lunch
Placed on the dining table
Safely covered
For the snoring ‘Kumbakarna’
Whenever he awakes he can have the breakfast
Both with vanity bags go out,
Door kept closed from behind, but not locked.
But quite safe he is.
Security’s frequent
Moves round-the-clock
Streets already crowded
Autos, trains and buses
Some speed away
Some wait to speed away
Down the roads both walk
Walk the talk.
Straight to the railway stations
Cross the crowded over-bridge
Platforms fill to the brim,
Occasionally turn out to be a flooded river
Fast ‘monsters’
Rush ahead roaring
From Pune and faraway states
Indira and Malu
Mother and daughter
Watch, talk and smile to each other.
Over-bridge-an obstacle,
To some.
First climb up the steps, move
Through the faceless crowd,
And climb down the steps
Cross the rails to reach the platform at the earliest.
An easy route
Some lucky but
Some ‘luckier’,
The latter are run over
Indira watches the scene with detached eyes.
No shock, no pain.
Malu just smiles.
Frozen minds never feel pain
Monsters are monsters
Their duties only,
to rush ahead
City makes man and woman monsters.
Frozen minds.
Indira never press the rewind button to go to her past memories
Hence no problem.
Shock,pain,tears, nightmares, decapitated, mangled corpses, roars and howls and her loud cries
All played havoc
In her mind once.
Now thank God
All those frightful images got buried somewhere in her memories
Not even a drop of tear to shed
Tears got dried up
Somewhere on the way.
Malu daughter of the city
Nothing hurts her
Born with a frozen mind
Lucky girl.
Two to three hour journey to CST
That in the morning.
Two to three hour journey back
That in the night.
More than eight hour slavery in the office

At 10 pm in Ambernath.
Flat,dress-changing
Preparations for supper
In the meanwhile
Televisions comes alive
Films songs, serials, sports
Choices vary
Three of them
Enjoy talking
Light and serious
When all is over
It’s sleeping time.
Clock on the walls
Announces 12 past 15
Four to five hour sleep
Sufficient.
A busy day awaits
For both mother and daughter.
What to do? Life should go on.