Beaks, Waters and other stories.
By Suranga Date of Strewn Ashes
My friend who goes by the name of Slogan Murugan (Mumbai Paused), recently posted a photograph of a pigeon , making the most of an infinite expanse (to its own thinking) of drinking water, dipping in to the maximum depth it can, without getting water in its eyes, so to speak. I thought of some other beaks, powerful and posh, and other efforts at drinking water, and wrote some verse, referring to drinking water problems faced by so many today. Turns out , that just before he clicked the pigeon, Slogan Murugan also clicked the photo above on the right, of the daily hoi polloi efforts at collecting water to drink. I would love to make a well known comment about (great) minds thinking alike, but can see the pigeon taking a gulp, watching out with that eye, and while glugging down as much water as it can, asking a question saying "yeh log mere peeche kyon pade hai ?" The answer.
Some tall types,
with expressive beaks,
long necks
and quick "power" movement
pierce them deep
into the sand
hoping to find political waters.
Some page 3 types
only frequent
bird baths and feeders
in gardens attached
to public bungalows
studded with power windows.
But the proletarian
pigeon types,
that share residences
and population
with us,
to be constantly shooed away
and cursed,
light up at
the sight of this,
and dip in.
Unfortunately,
some who cannot fly
must trudge miles today,
in 2015,
to get
drinking water of their own.
