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On seeing millions walking home...

We saw them on our way to work
In those makeshift tarpaulin shacks
Naked children playing with roadside trash
Near piles of their own excreta
As skeletally thin mothers tried to cook gruel in pots,
We looked but didn’t really see. 

Every morning, we saw them from our cars
Shrunken bodies in tattered clothes, in a huddle
Waiting for an ‘agent’ to get them work.
What did we do then?
We cranked up the AC, we plugged into podcasts
“How long before this signal changes, damn it!”

We drank the bytwo coffee they served us in darshinis
We looked but didn’t really care to see.
We were too preoccupied with ‘personal milestones’
That we just had to share on our Insta Stories
#Ran5Kms #FeelingStrong #LifeIsGood #FeelingBlessed

We passed under-construction sites
In our localities and our neighbourhoods. 
We saw them and... we quickened our steps.
We held handkerchiefs (no masks then, you see!) to our noses
Oh, the smell! These people are so filthy!

We saw them. We all did.
How could we possibly not?
They were on every street.
They were part of our cities.
They were part of our everyday lives.                         
Yes we looked. But didn't really see

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