Kalpana’s poem explores privilege and inequality in her hometown, where Lala, a rickshaw puller, drives her to school, exclusively for Different Truths.
Hurry, hurry! Lala, my Rikshawala hollers. He takes me to school. Barefoot in winter, he pedals fast, but the wheel of time has its own pace. I tuck my icy hands under my arms. The blue cardigan knit by my mother keeps me warm. I have books to read and lunch in a tiffin box. I’m privileged. Lala isn't. He knows why. I don’t.
Picture design by Anumita Roy
Kalpna Singh-Chitnis is an Indian American poet, writer, and filmmaker known for her five collections and numerous publications. Her latest collection, “Love Letters to Ukraine from Uyava,” has been translated into Ukrainian by Volodymyr Tymchuk. Singh-Chitnis has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and has been selected to go to the moon with NASA’s missions in 2023. Widely anthologised, her sixth poetry collection, “Trespassing My Ancestral Lands,” is forthcoming from Finishing Line Press.
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