Delivery Boy

Rizwan came to the city with hopes and dreams

A decent job and a well-paid salary

To satisfy needs.

"Delivery Boy " His friend exclaimed

The best way to start the day

No idea about city life, the young man stood confused,

"I 'll introduce you to my Boss," said his friend,

And this offer he could not refuse.

"Thirty minutes or free !" said the Boss in a gruff voice,

"Should never be your aim"

"If the order is delivered for free,

It is your loss and the customer's gain."

Terms and conditions applied,

Rizwan went door to door and supplied.

His job was not easy

Though he loved to ride bikes.

But with the pressure building up

It was a race against time.

A meager salary was what he earned,

Yet he was satisfied.

Send half his income back home,

In the remote interior of the village

Where his old mother and sister reside.

"One day I will make it big in life,"

Rizwan would smile and say

Sipping tea at a local chai stall.

"I will build a house for my mother, no matter how small"

The tea in the mud cup would be sipped to the end

He casually would throw it away

In the tin bin

And push off homeward after a tiring day.

He rose one morning filled with zest and vigor

And sped off to deliver supplies

On his bike, like a bullet released from the trigger.

"Thirty minute or free " Rizwan sung in his head

"Or the customer's gain and my loss - what pain!"

He sped and zoomed and cut through the signal

When his bike happened to skid

He fell off his bike

His crown was hit

Down he lay in a pool of blood.

Uncared -for.

City life, You see nobody bothers

It's okay as long as it is happening to others.

In a flash before his eyes

Like a dream- the memories of his childhood flashed by

"My Mother! My Sister!" were the last words that he cried.

The next day's newspaper

Devoted a small column to the death of a delivery boy

An old man at the tea stall read aloud and sighed

"What is happening to the youth these days! So careless they are on the bike!"

At the same tea stall, where Rizwan would sit and dream

The old man sipped and sighed.