THE ROAD TRIP

I didn’t intend to carry the heavy camera gear for the short one-day trip for a meeting. But there is a bargain here. I’m familiar with the place I’m visiting, known for its green fields and coconut orchards and mighty Godavari River. My camera, noting this, silently sneaked into the back seat.

The road was straight and the ride sailed smoothly, I could see the green fields racing back as if someone chasing them but I could momentarily catch them dancing in the morning breeze holding captive the pleasant Sun rays and a few sparkles from the dewdrops hanging at the blades of leaves.

As I looked down from the bridge, the contours of dried up and empty River Godavari appeared like a wavy surreal painting and felt something strange to watch the view at that moment.

It’s in an hour I would reach my appointed place. Somewhere in between, I came across on either side of the road a few bricks making kilns. I walked for a while among thick mounds of ash and smoke oozing from kilns, watching the sweaty and dusty workers faithfully tending and arranging the finished bricks.

I couldn’t miss the merciless contrast within few hours of my trip, one I witnessed the abundance of nature’s richness – green and healthy and then the next, a harsh reality in full display at brick kilns in its scanty hardworking rags.