Each Article A Penny! Poem by Varchaswi Putcha

I know him as a kid
Close to my heart since childhood
With his unique and articulated voice
And with the affectionate moonlit eyes
He goes hawking by cycling in the old city lanes
carrying the chattel on his neck and shoulder planes
Hark the announcement ‘Each article a penny'
Used to park we kids around him in numbers many
Combs, mirrors, pins, scissors, nail cutters...
Snows, powders, soaps … and what not bro!
Grab anything for a paltry penny
All is local made in my lovely Hyderabad
Really a mobile retailer satiating the poor man's need
It's like an aftermath of the lashed out rains
When he left after a swept out sales in all those lanes
He just looks like a materialist at his best
without sporting a Bindi on forehead or a hat or pagidi on his pate to test
For me he's a glamour hero nearer
or a great street warrior ever
***
In my adolescence, his slogan rang differently
‘Each article two rupees only…'
With a metamorphosis into an old motor bike
Carrying nothing short of an exhibition coolly…
Albeit we didn't form huge crowds over there
Those calls of walking super-bazaar transmit waves of clarinets clear
***
After a long span….
The other day that vendor descended in an old Suzuki trolley
Announcing 'Each article twenty rupees only' stuffed with all the sundry
Come any number of super bazaars, Spensers', multiplexes or wall-marts
His ringing echoes of 'each article….' Goes un-infringed by any sorts
Like Kamadhenu, a mythological cow or like a Kalpavriksha, a desire tree
To a common man, in my pious Nation till it crosses the line of poverty




[This is a translated poem of Dr SVSatyanarayana, the earstwhile VC of Telugu Versity, Hyderabad]