Labour chowk
Incessant chatter
Impatient gestures
Anxious glances
And a pall of gloom
What’s in store today?
Jobs for the lucky
Emptiness for others
One more day of despair
Such days are often now
They call it recession
For us, it’s depression
No escape from there
In this labour chowk*
Painful is this wait
Uncertainty is certain
And a pall of gloom
* A place where labourers (mostly construction workers) gather daily to get jobs. Contractors recruit people from these places on a daily basis.