A bus bellows in impatience.
The Sun tattoos his back
through the holes of his sweaty vest.
He gets off the makeshift lift
at the construction site.
Head forcibly bowed down by the weight of the bricks.
Drops them by the stack in the corner,
massaging his neck,
he straightens up and looks out at the view.
Hundreds of proud buildings,
shiny windows glinting arrogantly,
enveloped in wispy whorls of venomous smoke.
Cars like beetles,
battling their way forward and backward.
Bewildered women and men in lesser vehicles, caught in between.
He leans forward,
to breath in the air,
for a whiff of all that he wanted to be a part of.
A painful blow to his ear,
and a curse is what he gets instead..
The glowering supervisor
will let no one waste time.
The building will not build itself.
Back on the ground,
he looks up at the rising skeleton of bricks and mortar.
'Gray Pastures' by Shweta Ganesh Kumar. Shweta is the author of ‘Coming Up On The Show’ and ‘Between The Headlines’, two novels on the Indian Broadcast News industry. Her latest book, ‘A Newlywed’s Adventures in Married Land,’ is now available worldwide via Indireads. More about her life and work here www.shwetaganeshkumar.com.