THOSE RICKSHAW PULLERS OF CALCUTTA
-A TRIBUTE-
Once they formed an indispensable part of old
Calcutta, now Kolkata.
Synonymous with the Howrah Bridge and the Monument!
Today they are no longer seen, -
Those hand-pulled rickshaws of yore
have become extinct,
Like the Dodo or the pre-historic Dinasores!
The toiling sweat from those labouring brows
Blended with the hot tarmac roads under the
summer’s sun! .
Those pair of running legs forming an extension,
Making his chariot look like a four-wheeler !
With its hooded cover and metallic bell; -
Mobile, all- weather, carrying you to the very
door step’s end; wading through knee-deep water
of Calcutta, where many automobiles lay floundered!
May God bless those valiant folks, those
intrepid sprits, -
Whom the older generations knew better, -
Those brave rickshaw pullers of Calcutta.
-Raj Nandy, New Delhi
24 May 2007.
RAJ NANDY
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/those-rickshaw-pullers-of-calcutta-a-tribute/
