Ram Krishna’s poem explores the poignant contrast between national pride and the harsh reality of childhood poverty in India, for Different Truths.

At the traffic signals,
on busy roads,
little kids,
in tattered clothes,
throng my car window,
to sell colourful flags.
Their eyes sparkle,
when I buy.
The days of flag-selling
provide them tiny joys.
Why do such days not come every day?
they perhaps wonder.
I dread telling them,
these are the days
that are meant for them.
Meanwhile,
blissfully,
they are busy counting the coins,
the flags have earned them.

Picture design by Anumita Roy

Ram Krishna Sinha

Ram Krishna Sinha is a former General Manager at Bank of India, and lives in Mumbai. After three and half decades of distinguished career in the Bank, he is presently invested in talent mapping, management education and writing for newspapers and magazines on contemporary issues. An author of the motivational book “X-Factor @Workplace” published by Tata McGraw Hill, he is an Opinion Columnist for the CEOWORLD magazine.