Jhadoo ke Mann Ki Baat

My friend Dr Meena Gomati Narayan shared this photograph  posted by her friend. 

Somehow, Jhadoos (Brooms) today have taken on a new meaning.  As an election symbol.

And despite the newspapers and televisions highlighting jhadoos in a very in-your-face kind of way,  this capture, of presumably new, colorfully tied new jhadoos , displayed in a pristine white, albeit clinical setup , with ribbon identifiers, clearly brought something else to mind.

( As a child, we had a palm tree in my parents house, and i have actually seen someone sitting with the dried fronds, and a very sharp knife, and creating these masterpieces; except they were tied much more firmly . )

Little Jhadoos,
tied with an
id ribbon
lying in the Jhadoo Ward
resting
after a traumatic
but exciting political
arrival
through the Election Vestibule...

As the country celebrates,
an old toothless
Adharless man
in a rural field somewhere,
continues
to collect the
dried palm fronds,
and sits in a shed
finely cutting frond lines
with his native sharp implement,
sharpening ends.
smoothening stick surfaces,
and then tying
them in groups.
and collating together
so his wife can
carry them
to the weekly market,
sell.,
and earn their meals...

Like milk that thinks
it comes from a pouch
the new collection
of Urban Jhadoos,
think they come from a shop.

And despite the
new generation
in the Jhadoo ward,
the jubilation,
and the shouts
nothing has really changed
for those simple folks
in the fields,
working with their hands,
unaware of majorities,
power, promises, and losses,
for whom
AAP is not a party,
but a sign of respect
for someone
who works alongside them...