black rubber shoes

after a long day's search, i settled for those black rubber shoes

that squeaked its price out

yelped and shouted "it is monsoon"

my muddy feet

after the makkai field excursion in the morning

reminded me of my desperation

at finding myself in the midst of all that soil that smelled a farmer's delight

but oh, it was the desperation that i remember

at finding myself in the midst of all that soil

i could not turn back

nor could i go ahead

my feet were trapped in the mud concoction

of soil, cow dung and monsoon rain

and many more feet that went about their ways

i could trace out different sizes and shapes of human intrusion

mine lost in the hilo

i took a pause

looked back at what i had crossed so far....a long distance away from the pitched road

a long distance away from home

and i turned back again

to know that my destination was not far away

what stood between was nature at its own course

and i took a long breath

pulled my trousers up

took a last glance at my kapada ko chappal

cursing myself for wasting ten rupees to glue them back

and i took that one leap

that would only end up being one of those many steps away from the broken wall

the broken wall that i would have to climb up

to get away

only to find myself

amidst blaring horns and shooting smoke

amidst robots with clean feet and trendy shoes

in the middle of the brazen road that knew nothing of

the green

the brown

hues of nature that i had trodden upon recently