Through A Slum-Street Poem by Daniel Trevelyn Joseph

Walked through Shastri Nagar
It is a slum on records
Of MHADA, and all other authorities
Dealing with land, housing and slums.

I walk through that at 7 30 pm to buy
A cigarette lighter from Meena Bazaar
In Khetwadi, since Anand Bazaar boy
Said that it will take him few days to get it.

I am overwhelmed by the rich texture
Of urban life, and social relationships
In these so-called slums, where men are busy,
And women busier, but more friendly.

Houses are small but people are thick
With each other: I see eight women
Sitting in ten square feet area, most friendly
Laughingly review the day’s activities.

Everything is fresh, whether it is food
Or gossip, or clothes they wear;
Possesses only three saris but she wears
Only the washed and clean one every day.

Next is a shop, and then a computer training classs
With at least sixteen computers, in that one room,
Brightly lit, with eight to nine youngsters,
Cheerfully but seriously bent over the lit screens.

Next is a temple, dedicated to Buddha,
Whom they have taken over
As belonging to one special category,
Because Ambedkar embraced Buddhism.

Opposite is a laundry, then a repair shop,
In the next house, I see a computer whiz-kid typing,
Inside the lady in white is watching color television,
A popular serial, where exaggeration is name of game.

Life is so rich, generally lived together with gusto,
Of course sometimes there may be a loud fight,
But of late, not seen or heard, since active
Young and old are into livelihood business.

While Town Planners and pundits lecture
On mixed land use, and waste of great
Infrastructure for lack of it,
It is in this slum that I find ideal mixed land use.

When this slum is redeveloped, the pitch
Will be different and dark socially; walls rise
On all sides, children have no place to play,
Middle aged women become middle-class and boring.