These vignettes juxtapose stark poverty with fleeting, idealised visions of comfort, revealing the poet Tirtho’s internal conflict between empathy and privilege, exclusively for Different Truths.
Every time that woman who wore
weariness on her face
like a sadhu’s stoicism
and carried an emaciated child on her lap
while pleading for an iota of my empathy –
looked at me,
my eyes stared into hers
and saw the shimmering light of
high-rises reflect on them,
a lullaby drifting
and caress of a moon’s ray
rocking the cradle.
Every time that man
whose hairline receded
like the retreat of a glacier
and who carried a heavy bag
on his drooping shoulders
as he delivered the groceries –
came to my door,
I thought about the glow of
a sunset on the horizon
falling on a neat sofa
An old couple sipping tea
and a grey zone turning pink.
Picture design by Anumita Roy
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