I Remember

I’ll tell you something committed to my memory
Something known for novelty and humanity

A dirt-free road in the month of June, I remember
The streets of New Delhi and the busy life of Connaught Place inner circle,
And red-green light of traffic signal, I remember…

An old American woman in a blue shawl with a camera in her right hand…
Grinning – and giving a one-hundred rupee note to a small innocent beggar
I remember…

I remember a bunch of beggars she captured in her camera
They followed her till she entered the Madras Coffee House
Waving her hands and gesturing ‘goodbye!’
I remember…

It seemed a familiar scenario 
The red signal welcomes the same beggars to beg
I remember; some of them were not more than six years old
And two or three children were newly born…

I walked on, silently, down the scorching road, and I remember
How the old man pulled down the window of his car
Flipped one rupee coin, and asked an innocent beggar to depart
I remember I called out the beggar twice…
She did not hear my first call, then
When I called out to her a second time…

“Do you like chocolate and ice cream?”
I remember her answer, “Anything that makes my stomach happy.”
I took her to a nearby restaurant
And asked the manager to feed her like a queen!
I remember her smiling face…

All I can remember the next day when I visited the place again
She, Sonam, wearing a muddy frock and begging with an empty plate

I remember I clicked a picture of her from far
Tears began rolling down and I wished to leave…
The silence of the road being more dangerous than the silence of war

That’s all I can remember!
That’s all I want to remember!