The Tongawallah/ The Villager Disguiser Poem by Bijay Kant Dubey

The Tongawallah

There was a time
When the tongawallahs used
To wait for
At bus stops, into the market-places
The tongawallahs
With the tongas,
Horse-drawn carriages.

Horses galloping and drawing
The carriages
With the tongawallah at the helm
And the passengers on the rear of it.

The Villager Disguiser

Coming in the form of a sepoy
Going with a thief
Into the handcuffs
Begging for pardon and release
But going strictly
With a stick
In his hand
And the commanding order
And threatening with the stick,
But the thief. with a rope tied
Around the waist
Looking helplessly,
Willing not to go.