Dr Molly’s poem vividly portrays Calcutta, a city of stark contrasts, highlighting its teeming crowds, relentless work, and struggle for basic needs, exclusively for Different Truths.
The teeming
contours
of a city...
there, there
it flows
the ocean
of humans...
on sides
of Howrah
Bridge,
faces, faces
on way
back home
after a day's
fretful
labour...
there
on lanes
sit the vendors
spreading
their wares
vegetables,
onion,
what not!
all exposed,
inviting
the dust of a
mad city
honking
endlessly...
the brr… of
screeching
halts and
jostling
ahead...
the dusted
veneer
suffocates...
typical of
a teeming
city...
I watch
a frenzied
working
woman
buying a
small
pick of onions
in her rush
for the metro.
a man
watches
his watch
buying a
simple toy
to appease
his little one…
heaps of litters
mount up
quite close...
people
the very
ordinary,
struggling
for
subsistence...
progress
on one side.
a new Howrah
Bridge
is built up,
Underwater
Metro
fully
functional...
O, Calcutta
how do you
address
the very
needy, the
very
ordinary...
no wonder
there came
Mother Teresa
to wipe out
their tears...
Yet I love
you, Calcutta
genuine you
are, with no pretensions
of
make believe...
Picture design by Anumita Roy
Dr Molly Joseph, a bilingual professor and poet from Kerala, has published 26 books, including 18 poems, two novels, and two storybooks for children. She has edited “A Handbook of Contemporary Ethics” and works for values, global peace, and togetherness. Dr Joseph has won national and international accolades and represents India at SAARC and FOSWAL literature meets. She believes in the power of the word and writes boldly on contemporary matters.
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