dr Bhaga Manga MS and dr Mhera Mohan FRCS

with bamboo baskets on head

and hoes in hand,
dr bhaga manga, ms
and dr mhera mohan, frcs
lifted open the lid of an overflowing man-hole
and slipped into the nether-land.

without any gloves or gumboots,
apron or oxygen- cylinder,
first-aid-box or thirst-aid-box,
scalpel or stethoscope.

but they proved  more brilliant and efficient
than the B J Medico boys of high caste Hindus.

expert in art and skilled in science
the real Schweitzerian tribe –
acting upon the every letter of Hippocrates faithfully.

very simple docs indeed!
municipality supplies
a pair of blue shorts of khaddar
and a half-sleeve, ash-coloured tennis-shirt.
just like the harijan-volunteers of yesteryears.

pigs graze upon the earth
or lick the excreta
and dr bhaga manga
and dr mhera mohan
deep down the earth mud-ball playfully !

this Ahmedabad city
is a case of multiple maladies,
drinks daily dose of dialysis
thanks dr bhaga manga and dr mhera mohan -
they clear the cotton-wools
forgetfully flung by meritorious medicos
and the honourable high caste citizens.

but the day is different today.
doctors diagnose a tumour :
a dead bud
of innocent love-making.
may be a nuisance to the virgin belly
or weightier than the world!

doctors decided for autopsy :
the rotten bundle issued forth
noxious gases in guffaws.
like miners,
suffocating doctors sought for the SOS string.
but dr mana mehtar, ABZ in sanitation
the head of the dept of hygiene
dozzed under lattha liquer’s influence
with the aristocratic air of savarna Dr Vani or dr Dani.

chain-smoker dr bhaga manga had wished

 to light a telephone-brand bidi
as soon as he comes out.
but dr mhera mohan was a little romantic by instinct.
he had promised Lakhdi to take her to a fillum :
‘Santu Rangili’ !

they did not obstruct
the system of the city -
smoothly floated out of drains dead,
into the sewage farm of Sarkhej slums.
one frog-yellow,
one milk-white.
all cleansed and washed off !

hundreds and thousands of their children
clear and move about
the blind bowels of the gluttonous city.

they live and die,
die and live happily.