Psychoanalysis of the Cab Driver from the Rear Seat
[plain working
steering at optimum curvatures]
[daydreaming from his shabby
uniform about owning a fleet of cars]
[listening to the zen of engines
tuning to perfection]
[linking a car hood noise
and its maintenance bill
with the overlapping due date
of his daughter’s school fees]
[worrying about debt and paying up
in installments to the garage owner]
[deciding against it
worrying about the dressing down]
[thinking about pledging his
wife’s ornaments or remembering]
[how the last piece of valuable
at home is already pledged]
[how he has always been broke:
how he could never have a family,]
[never walk back to his parents
an achiever, that he hid himself
in drugs and alcohol]
[lived out of de-addiction centers,
asylums, police stations with cases of theft,
bookings under goonda act]
[a rapist under trial,
a runaway convict,
a pimp with tarts warming my seat,
a bootlegger bribing the patrol]
[On the way
to meet one of the agents]
child lock to keep me trapped,
crowbar to break open the skull
if it is a no]
[or plain using the rear-view mirror
and I should be looking away,]
easing out into the scenery that
rushes past the window.]
[night scripts a silent drama.
Stage: Cab
Actors: passenger, cab driver (unnamed)]
steering at optimum curvatures]
[daydreaming from his shabby
uniform about owning a fleet of cars]
[listening to the zen of engines
tuning to perfection]
[linking a car hood noise
and its maintenance bill
with the overlapping due date
of his daughter’s school fees]
[worrying about debt and paying up
in installments to the garage owner]
[deciding against it
worrying about the dressing down]
[thinking about pledging his
wife’s ornaments or remembering]
[how the last piece of valuable
at home is already pledged]
[how he has always been broke:
how he could never have a family,]
[never walk back to his parents
an achiever, that he hid himself
in drugs and alcohol]
[lived out of de-addiction centers,
asylums, police stations with cases of theft,
bookings under goonda act]
[a rapist under trial,
a runaway convict,
a pimp with tarts warming my seat,
a bootlegger bribing the patrol]
[On the way
to meet one of the agents]
child lock to keep me trapped,
crowbar to break open the skull
if it is a no]
[or plain using the rear-view mirror
and I should be looking away,]
easing out into the scenery that
rushes past the window.]
[night scripts a silent drama.
Stage: Cab
Actors: passenger, cab driver (unnamed)]
About the Writer
|
Aditya Shankar is an Indian poet, flash fiction author, and translator. His work has appeared in literary journals of repute and nominated for literary awards, including Best of the Net. Books: After Seeing (2006), Party Poopers (2014), XXL (Dhauli Books, 2018). He lives in Bangalore, India.
Instagram: adityan.s Twitter: @suncave |