Who Controls The Bulldozer
Blue sky over a brown-coloured house
Its windows open to let the air inside
There is an old song playing in the radio kept on the kitchen shelf
Earth shakes,
A bulldozer roars
The sparrows sitting on the wire fly away
They understand warnings better than us
Loudspeakers blaring
Men in brown uniform gather around
Their feet moving in coordination, monotonous faces in robotic movements
Laughters subside inside the house
The woman moves towards the radio
(A song is a song as long as their is silence around)
Swarm of people
Buzzing with anticipation, talk in urgent whispers
Nobody moves
Nobody questions
But the woman
Another strike and the wall breaks first
(Not everytime a wound bleeds)
She squeals, runs and stands in front of the dwindling house
(When a house grows like a child,
Mother does everything to save it)
The man weeps,
Folding his hands
(Once a greeting to daroga sahib)
Now pleads
Without taking a breath
(Living now is a reflex action)
The witnesses stand as they always do
Before the house turns into dust
(Sometimes violence is submission)
The inspector moves away, bulldozer turns around
People humph casually, as the woman cries
(Nothing breaks like human spirit)
The radio buried under the ghost of a house
Keeps playing the same song as before
Nothing changes
The shops reopen again
(Tragedies are so only when acknowledged)
Tomorrow there will be conversations
But nobody will ask this question," who controls the bulldozer?"
(Some questions are rhetorical. Some answers too carefully crafted )
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