Walks, Heads and Loads

My FB friend NandanTavanandi  posted some great clicks on his visit to the Sinhagad Fort  near Pune. 


Like this visual of the local women, climbing the fort via the small pathways, possibly carrying the days food and other requirements for those family members working  and/or attending the local school few kilometres way ....

Something they do, year round, regardless of the weather, the road condition etc.

And it just reminded me about something else....

Some,
learning to walk as adults,
book on head,
body
chiseled to perfection,
polished,
accessorised,
walking
in designer outfits
on
straightened protected ramps
in controlled surroundings
with programmed applause,
narcissistically
steeped in stress....

And some,
on a permanent climb,
with loads of worries,
all carried
up Life's Hills,
on a balanced head,
a sensibly tucked saree,
and a
stick to support,
as they chat about
families, kids,
food, prices,
and gossip,
and meander through life's paths,
applauded
by the flowers,
the grass,
the trees.

Someone waits
for lunch at the peak,
and the Bhakri must not get cold...

Loading society, dieting mares .....

This is a click posted on the Project Jugaad Page on FB. Jugaad is the local word that means grassroots innovation to overcome any constraint .

For some reason, the slight of the slim overloaded animal reminded me of the recent quote by Gujarat CM Modi, where he attributed the women's malnutrition in his state to the tendency of the women  to ignore health and  diet for the sake of fashion.





The beauty conscious
dieting mare,
pushed into it,
by a helpless elder,
and then loaded
under the weight
of
inflation,
adulteration,
no access to quality education,
hitherto made available
by family
only to horses.

No roof,
unavailable nutrition,
unaffordable clothes,
undreamable ornaments,
and
tightly reined in
when
wishing to gallop.....

One must be grateful
for good roads
and
rubber wheels,
that make her pulling easier.

She doesn't know
that the roads
were actually made
for white horses,
carrying decorated bipeds
sometimes
selling themsleves
for money.....