Ugly Demonstration Of Affordability Poem by Bashyam Narayanan

Ugly demonstration of affordability

It is a 2000 students studying school
In a developing economy
It is a great feeling to see kids of
Varying ages crossing me
As I went to dropp my grandchild

While it is a pleasure to watch kids
It was paining me more to see
How these kids reach the school
Not less than 1000 automobiles
It can be a bus, car, two-wheeler
All crowding the entrance of the school
And all creating a traffic jam
In the main road adjacent

No one seems to be disturbed by this
A closer look made me realize
That it was more demonstration of affordability
Than really giving comfort to the
School attending kids
I saw more number of parents and elderly
Than the students themselves
Cars come with two or more
To dropp a kid
Two wheelers carried both the parents
To dropp their beloved kids
Three wheeler Autorikshaws, vans, mini buses
And so many countless vehicles
Crowd the school
At a time when
People rush to offices and workplaces
In the main road

We are thinking in terms reducing
Carbon dioxide emissions
While we introduce emissions
By using vehicles for a jolly drop

What message we are giving children
Is also to be examined
May be, child lives with the feeling
That this comfort will be ever available
As their parents can afford

Affordability is an individual assessment
But the demonstration of affordability
Is not expected to damage the collective sustainability
Surely, we cannot afford children
This comfort
As the world is thinking in terms cutting
The emissions by around twenty percent

Let parents give a rethinking
To this
Ugly demonstration of affordability