DILAPIDATED ROOM
A. A. Bijapure
I read about the groups, fighting for
better treatment to the stray dogs.
The animals for laboratory tests
have associations to sympathize with them.
I know of pious men
trying to convince the people
of the truth about
charity, and the pilgrimage centers.
Selflessly they work for others sake.
Truly they are respectable men.
At the corner of our lane
lived Khateeja, an old woman, alone.
During my matriculation year
casually I went in to see her.
She had fever, and nothing to eat.
She asked for money for tea and bread.
Two days later she died—
of fever, old age, and hunger.
A thousand Khateejas might have been
dying that day in our serene world.
— lonely, abandoned and thirsty.