KEEP DISTANCE

Keep Distance

While I make the long way home
Trucks on highways hauling
Hundreds of my brothers ‘n sisters
Haunt me with gaudy artwork
Impossible to ignore, imploring me
To Keep Distance.


No longer is it an irritating reminder
Of endless hours in a truck, grazing shoulders
Under the blazing sun, inhaling fumes at leisure.
Everywhere I look, everywhere I turn
I am reminded to Keep Distance…
Making we wonder.

Isn’t my story …

The story of keeping distance
Of staying far away, from you?
Keeping distance from my difference?
Keeping distance from my danger?
Keeping distance from the unknown -
Letting me remain unknown.
Isn’t my story, about your fear of me?
To protect you…from me?
All that matters is your self-preservation.


This is the land of my forefathers
I’m what they term ‘indigenous’
Your forefathers arrived yesterday in time
Yet, you call me mlechchha!
My dark skin frightens you.
Your stories refer to me as Rakshasa…Asura
Placing my origins in the nether world.
My roots are in the nether regions of this country
That makes all of me nether to you!?


Your laws of Manu
Forbid me approach your shadow.
My presence pollutes you…you call me pariah.
Your sacred cow is no more sacred, when dead
Merely a carcass I must carry away
To make your leather belt and shoes
With which to whip ‘n kick me
If I fail to Keep Distance.


It is OK for you, ‘Saheb’, to sleep with my wife
Leaving your footwear outside my door -
As a warning for me to stay away.
But if my son eloped with your daughter
You would have me lynched
And the lovers killed to protect your honour
Because they didn’t Keep Distance.


I must exist unseen on the outskirts of our village
I dare not claim you as neighbour
But I must do your every bidding.
If I thirst, you’d rather have me wither

Than drink from the village well…

which I dug for you.

It’s your world…with the power you wield
Nothing I do could level the playing field
So, I ran away to the city…
But you were there too!


Now, whom do I turn to for succour?
For a roof over my head?
The crooked politician purchased my vote
For the price of booze and biryani.
His cronies offered his protection
At least, till the next election
My troubles would Keep Distance.


I earn twenty lakh zeroes less than you
That’s my net worth. Insurance cover?
Yes, a plastic helmet on my head
To protect your butt, from my ‘negligence’,
While I build your villa…your tech park
Your mall… your Metro…your flyovers
In blazing sun and scorching heat.


For me, I’m on the highway to Hell
I’m the tormented, you’re the devil.
If I thirst en route, there’s a tumbler
Of water left on the wall
Is it RO purified? I can’t even ask
Because you’ve done it to Keep Distance.


My wife’s the maid sweeping your floors,
Cooking your food, baby-sitting
Doing odd jobs in the neighbourhood -
So, that our kids too can dream
Of better days with the Right to Education
While your CCTV’s keeping a watchful eye -
Making sure we Keep Distance.


One construction site to the next…
From one slum to the next
From one meal to the next
This life’s a penal colony for past sins
While you’re safe and secure
Protected from mine and me
Within your gated community…
That I built!
It must feel so reassuring to know
You can afford to Keep Distance.


You’re the Indian, you’re the model citizen
To prove who I am, I must register
Or else, I’m illegal, a foreigner
In the land of my forefathers, a mlechchha!
Merely a migrant worker…nothing more.
Mazdoor yes, majboor no!


It’s bad enough you’ve locked me out
Left me homeless…hungry
Mired in misery on the streets
Now, you want me locked down-
Held back against my will-
To kick start your failing economy?


Governments dance to your tune
‘Coz they’re in the palms of your hand.
I’m through with you and their devious ways
No more of “Do what I say!”
Your insistence will meet with resistance.
Come the next voting day
You’ll be well advised to Keep Distance!


You think I care about portfolio value
Or, losses to your corporation
When I have zero net worth?
You think I care if your kids
Aren’t going to school
Or, who’s going to clean your swimming pool?
I’m through with being your migrant worker
I’m through being the nation’s tear jerker on TV.


I’m nearly home…it’s taken forever
I’m too exhausted to see tomorrow
Forget the day after or, the future.
I’m too bleary eyed to see the way forward
Besides it doesn’t matter to me
The fringes of my village are my destiny.


Before I put you and all that you stand for
Behind me…all I want to say is this
“Stay the ***k away from me”
Or, in plain simple trucking parlance
Keep Distance!


©2020 Ranjan Kamath