Sunday, December 2, 2007

The Blackened Chicken Franky

With tattered pants, he roamed bare-chested,
On a railway station that was a conglomeration of people.
A bottle of shoe polish and a tarnished cloth,
For his burning stomach, the manikin would work without a sabbath.

The days began at an early hour,
Due to the perturbing sounds alongside where he slept-
A railway platform or a footpath.

He had never seen his parents nor had he heard of ‘school’.
The little champ wasn’t aware what’s acting ‘smart’ and what’s playing a fool.
He didn’t know if it’s better to be right or wrong,
Never in his life had he enjoyed; worn fancy clothes or swayed to the nursery rhymes and children songs.

All he knew of, was a feeling that he felt from within,
We, the learned, call it ‘hunger’.
Catching the trains that arrive at Borivali station,
And actualizing a ‘full meal’ was his, impracticable, fascination.

From Borivali to Churchgate; he would travel to and fro,
Two rupees each, was the rate for the shoe polish to flow.
A vast choice of restaurants, he had for a meal;
Dadar for ‘Vada Pav’ and Borivali for ‘Neera’ was his routine food deal.

Aromatic food around, would make the temptation reach its peak;
A ‘Franky’ at Churchgate, in his dreams he would seek.

Once he earned twenty five rupees by sheer serendipity;
Straightaway went to Churchgate, after an unusual morning tea.
Seemingly, coloured with black blood; his hands were, as always, sticky;
Though he had the time of his life, eating that blackened ‘Chicken Franky’.


- Mihir Chitre
mihirmumbaikar@gmail.com





3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice concept! Even though you have never mentioned 'Mumbai' anywhere directly, it just comes across..I could imagine the kid alongside Mumbai's railway stations..Maybe because I have seen them..Maybe because like a lakh other Mumbaikars, I have felt sorry for him and have done nothing for him...It's really heartening sometimes to see children on the stations begging or selling some tid-bits for a living. I feel helpless and sometimes even guilty for the lavish life I live in comparison to his. What have I done to deserve better than him? Nothing maybe! I was just born to a richer set of parents! I appreciate that some people are painstakingly working in the direction of moulding such kids. One such organisation that I know is Akanksha that was started by a college student like us by the name of Shaheen Mistry.( www.akanksha.org). India's future lies in its youth. I hope we are able to bring up a better and a more educated youth!

Anonymous said...

I kind of got distracted midway while commenting on the poem...coming backt to it..Well written Mihir Chitre...nicely rhymed as well..loved the last paragraph..And the best part of the poem is that it is very picturesque..I could actually follow the child everywhere he went! Nice poem..quite thought provoking!

Mamta Pandya said...

'Great' is the word.Keep it up!!!!