Hunger

Shivering in the cold morning, he gripped the plastic bag tighter. Its weight on his back felt heavy but strangely comforting. Maybe because he had something to hold on to. He had been hungry for the past two days. Begging had been the last option. He didn’t want to beg, didn’t like the look of pity or the look of disgust that people threw his way. His stomach growled in disagreement. He had tried to fill his stomach with the meagre alms he received but that hadn’t been enough. Would it ever be? He shivered again. It was cold, so cold. Didn’t anybody realise that? Had his mother never thought how he would suffer? The feeling of abandonment washed over him for the first time in his entire life of twelve years. That brought a tear to his eyes. Lately everything brought a tear to his eyes. The thought of his mother, of hunger, of poverty, of the cold. Everything. ‘Sonu’ The thought made him shiver with emotion. His friend who had lived with him under the highway. His friend who had collected plastic bags with him. Had it been just yesterday that Sonu had left, left this life of misery. No, he wont go there it was too painful and he had to think of his growling stomach. Clutching the bag tighter he walked about collecting recyclable plastic bags.