When A Child, I Used To Meet The Scavenger Woman (The Mehatarani) Poem by Bijay Kant Dubey

When a child
While going to school
Without any desire of going to,
I used to meet the scavenger women
Going with the handled wheel-carts
Dragging and pulling
With labour
The tin cans placed upon
The handcarts
So full of excreta
With foul stench
Taking over it all,
Green flies buzzing around,
We trying to avert them
With the hands on the nose and the mouth,
Giving a side to them
And they going to dump,
Dump the excreta into the garbage heap
After emptying them
And cleaning in the tank,
Resting under the tree shade
From the strong sun and its heat,
Feeling given up and fatigued
Taking a break from,
Chewing paan
As for refreshment
And starting to return.