RESTLESS ROADS (PART--I)

 

            

              

                                        

                  

                          

 The roads are linking channels built in every clime

  As one’s sole right none has power to claim;

  Without these roads, our movements stop

  Our dealings and means of livelihood drop;

  Least cared these vital links in essence

  We use them without any common sense;

  We dig trenches and pits for our selfish needs

  We left them damaged and none doth heed;

  Most of the pot-holes by our negligence made

  Timely repair and maintenance delayed;

  Tons of wastage into our drains we throw

  Blocking gutters over the roads to overflow;

  These roads, a source of gain to greedy minds who use

  Spurious stuff and thin-layered topping loose;

  So many innocent people slip and sustain

  Fatal injuries and suffer from fractured pain;

  The newly laid roads turn worn and chipped soon

  With pits and trenches-- a recurring boon

  For builders to fill their pockets again;

  Though people brand them as cheats with disdain;

  How many tender youths lost their lives indeed

  Exploited by corrupt officials’ vicious deeds?

  None cares to keep these highways neat and clean

  Flanked by avenues of flowering plants green;

  All garbage and refuse recklessly thrown

  These roads we treat as if our property own;

  If one complains we treat him as our deadly foe

  Our civic sense and duties we hardly follow;

  As in medieval times when people used to throw

  Everything as about hygiene they did not know;

  Even learned people never use their sense

  Flip plastic covers and cigars with indifference.

  Our careless ways backfire on us someday

  With dreadful diseases, a heavy price we have to pay;

  Roads have turned dangerous death-traps, beware!

  Let us maintain our roads with utmost care.

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   9th October,2024                              Somaseshu Gutala

 Note: This poem deals with a realistic portrayal of roads in small towns and cities in India. Such conditions are seen even in some parts of big cities also. Lack of awareness, carless and indifferent attitude of citizens and civic authorities, lack of proper maintenance, and rampant corruption are main reasons for making these important means of transport very shabby and dangerous. 

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