Problems Unbidden
- Hashtag Kalakar
- Dec 3
- 1 min read
By Rajiv Khandelwal
Problems
Are like the tide
They come
They retreat
But never quite vanish
Today’s problem
Was neither the colostomy bag
Nor the whooping cough
It was the baby mice
Scaling Mom’s bed
Dashing to her feet
Frightening her
Sending her heart into a wild race
The whole day
It terrorized her
Now here
Now there
But never
In the carefully laid trap
My problems swelled
When her nurse
Took a holiday
Like a shadow slipping away
Silent, without a word
Leaving me with an unplanned sudden duty
Fresh problems arrived unbidden
Like thieves in the dead of the night
When electricity workers
Greased with bribes
Ignoring tenants piling bills
Like weeds in a well-tended garden
Till they grow fat with interest
Then landlords, like us
Under threats of disconnection
Are compelled to pay
In this corrupt country
Will the mice ever retreat?
Like echoes in a canyon
Or will their signatures forever haunt?
By Rajiv Khandelwal
Comments