Hijdas Children of a Lesser God poem
Originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1
A new lot of Hijdas have taken over the Turner Road Traffic Signal, I met
them yesterday while going to work, Laxmi the Beggar Hijda who kept
this signal running with her kind face has stopped coming here , and I guess
its their head or Guru who controls and tells them where they beg..
The Turner Road Signal is a prestigious begging point, and the arterial road leads to four distinct points of Bandra..
However the Turner Road beggar kids give the Hijdas a tough time moving in for the kill as the kids really are faster on their feet, semi naked and the little tots completely naked.
Their mothers play cards across the road, food is leftovers from the nearby Stomach restaurant. The Eunuchs eat from the street stalls mostly the Bombay staple food called
the Batata Wada ..which is potato pancake in bread and green chutney…
a new fresh crop a new lot of Hijdas
beg at the Turner Road Traffic Signal now
morning to evening they move from one car to another
a field of no returns
tired as they plough
of the sweat of their brow
to the passengers in the cars
they smile as they kowtow
the beggar kids plunge headlong
the eunuch competition
wont allow
a hopeless fruit of misery
that almost bends the bough
here on the streets of despair
the children of a lesser God
broken puppets on a string
have less human respect
than the Holy Cow
