the boy did look like he was dead with his head rolled to one side, drooling and limbs that hung so lifelessly. she begged desperately in hindi while rubbing her sunken stomach with the other hand. i could not help myself but to stare at her big piercing brown eyes and dusty face as she begged.

i reached out and ran my fingers thru her filthy matted hair that was almost blonde from malnutrition. “what a joke it is for us to actually try and bleach our hair while others had suffered to achieve such colour!” i thought.
as sudden as i had touched her, i pulled my hand back to realize what i had just done. she looked as taken back as i had been. maybe, no one had ever reached out to touch her before - especially from a man. maybe, no one was supposed to. her gaze was silent and surprised.

the engine started again and the auto-rickshaw slowly pulled away. she reached out to a stick that had been left leaning against the rickshaw. i looked away from the one legged girl with a chilling stab in my lungs, as if the blazing heat had suddenly subsided into an unbearable cold.

from the rear view mirror, as though the rickshaw driver knew and understood, he smiled and said “chalo!”