We, the people.

The metro link bus was steadily cutting its way through the expressway, descending down the cold mountain. As she starred out of the window, the sight that beheld her eyes was enchanting. A thousand lights flickered down the hill in darkness as she approached the city limits once again. With every turn of the wheel, she was arriving closer. The last few days had been incredible, to be back to her roots. Every single hour of those days had been etched into the walls of her memory, dear as they were.  But the call of duty was now pulling her back, away from the comforts… And as she started noticing the countless lights shimmering in front of her eyes, vivid images started floating in her mind…

“The farmers in these areas are barely surviving on basic amenities… water is always a calamity in the summers, and electricity is a false promise we have been shown for the past four decades. Last year, 20 families committed suicide, unable to bear the losses of their crop. This year, the wells have already dried up. Do we have any hope left, or have we to abandon our own lands? “  

Tears flowed down the old man’s eyes like lost hope, drying up in the intense heat of the sun. She was looking around the land, barren, withered crops. Behind the man stood his two daughters, poverty stricken. Their eyes spoke of the hunger they had been taming for the past several days. Those very eyes, they begged at her for those basics which every human is worthy of. Every day they woke up with a singular thought, to find enough food to silence their craving hunger. Every night, they went back to sleep on the cold floor, hoping that the next day would bring something better. One such day, they would wake up in the morning and walk a few meters behind their hut to the large banyan tree. Only to find their father’s malnourished body hanging from the dried branch…. That day wouldn’t be far, she sensed it. The old man’s eyes reflected it. The time for stern action was due.

She knew it then. She belonged to the people; they looked upon her as the heaven-sent angel who would fit the lost pieces in the puzzle. She remembered her mother’s dreams; realization dawned upon her mind of the enormous responsibility that lay before her. Her journey had already begun somewhere...  only now did she understand the choice made before her birth.

We, the people.