Today I left the road, went to the margins

Contributor: Shanshank Kalra

Today I stepped off the edge

Left the road, went to the margins

You know, 

I always have had 

A love for mountains

Today, it just got deeper

And disturbing and

Intolerably moving

But I have to admit

Today was different

I have loved the air up there, 

It uplifts me

Today, it choked me.

Water. How I have liked it flowing through

The ridges, sparkling musically

Meandering streams finding its way into my body

Pacifying every cell

Today, it was. Different.

Oh! Do you love tea too?

Going to the mountains, for me is going home!

Can I call this mountain my home?

Even as I live in that far off land

Delhi with its delights

Look, this has 2 of my favorite delights

20 years I have been investing 2 minutes this way,

This home shall live with it for 200 years. Or more.

Today I stepped off the edge

Left the alluring road to development, went to the margins

And found my lost friends.

Much like in this frame, nobody notices them

Even as they go about prolonging our life on the planet

Oh, they don’t know it.

Today, I saw my own gatekeepers throw stones at them

And I just stood, like always.

Before today, I have whizzed past on the road

Comfortably cushioned

Forcefully detached from other worlds 

by my elected

Today, I stepped off the edge

Left the road that separates, came to the margins that connect

How far can I go, I asked myself?

And just then

It came again. And blinded me with dust.

Separated from my expanded world.

Something like this comes outside my house, every morning

And blinds me, day after day

To see beyond the road, into the margins.

This came out after a visit to Bhalswa MCD Dump (Landfill) in Delhi. He is set to visit several landfills across many small & big cities. And tell their story, of people, of stuff, of the system. Write to him to know more and join him. The intention is to start the conversation around this, build understanding and gently shift our ways.