Health check up..

The children’s line stretched across the room,
disappearing through the door,
in to an infinity.,
beyond the fences of ,
culture,religions and languages,
to diffuse in to the society,
with innumerable unaccounted faces..

The slum kids were pale,
And their skin was dry and lustreless,
Many ribs showed their outline,
Beneath the parched and stretched skin..

While moving them closer to me,
holding on their shoulder,
and listening to their heart beats,
to find out those expected odd sounds,
I couldnt miss that spark in their eyes,
a strong and intense desire to fight and survive..

I measured many parameters,
height and weight,
haircolour and arm circumference
to define malnutrition,
even when I could see
the invisible presence of poverty,
hiding inside their mannerisms..

I was just doing my exercise
to console my guilty conscience..

‘tell your mom to give you
milk and egg everyday,
I told a little girl
whose skin was dark and rough,
studded with white patches and boils
which made it look unsighty..

The girl looked at me,
doubt and confusion filled in her eyes
as if she couldn’t believe the fact,
the well dressed lady is just a moron,
while thinking about a daily scene,
at her ‘juggi’behind the market place,
her mother’s face which is always confused
how could she divide the 6 rotis
between those eight hungry stomachs..

The snaps of the rally conducted ,
by the kind youth of the organization,
with smiling faces of many volunteers,
and health minister himself,
still grinned at me
from the front page of the local news paper..

Among the small black letters,
my name was also hiding,
unable to lookup,
Into the cruel faces of enemies of human life
Ignorance,illiteracy and poverty..