Poems by Youth from Dharavi
Locked down has FINANCIALLY bogged down us…
We live in 10 by 10 feet house
but our hope aspirations have not bogged down …
Our parents worked in informal sectors,
we do have problem with ration, food, health and hygiene...
For so many years we didn’t exist for the people, government...
But now when the COVID Pandemic is spreading,
everyone is talking about us…
You visited our lanes, you shot along our drains...
we remained the same for ages...
Now no more…we the youth will take the charge and break this farce…
Everyone is talking about social distancing but for us it is a farce.
We try our best to follow the guidelines in our limitations...
Our parents worked hard to meet the means
but now don’t know what we will meet
in the days to come…..
Together we are working and sharing whatever resources we have…
Reaching out to world who visited our neighbourhood
or heard about our neighbourhood
or shot their glory in our neighbourhood..
We read in schools less is more…
We lived in less, ate less and we went to school
with least opportunities of learning…
Equality, human dignity, human rights are fancy words…
We invite you in our neighbourhood to find out yourself
what is right and what is wrong…
Please do tell us now...how long will this go on…
Locked down has financially bogged down us
but our tiny sky view from from our house
is still full of hope and aspiration….hope and aspiration!
Together many tiny hands and hearts full of hope
reach out to help next door
and many more…
The claustrophobic world of our neighborhood is
tumbled upside down by the virus,
no earnings of our folks and the outcry because of hunger
Together we are trying to give ration and
ray of hope that things will get better sooner,
which we ourselves don’t know…
Tell me again that it won’t last forever,
I miss my school, my college many more…
For right now though, we focus on sharing the warmth of hope
and food for mind, body and soul!
At times, we share silly jokes to kill the rattle of time
which stands like a giant before us all…
While the world is zooming with their people,
we are sharing the wellbeing prayer for all the people.
Small acts of kindness by many more
will definitely make this world a better place than ever..
Together many tiny hands and hearts full of hope
reach out to help next door and many more…
Written by Dharavi Diary Changemakers!
Mentored by Nawneet Ranjan