It was a warm and bright weekend morning. I started for the usual
weekend shopping at the local mall trying to beat the weekend crowd but the
place was already teeming with crowd, mostly families.
People were strolling across from their cars to the entrance as if
it was a moonlit night. Kids were scampering across to get hold of the trolley
for the family shopping.
Actually
the heat here is quite bearable even with high temperatures. There is not much
humidity most of the time. No complaints at all!
Fruits were in high demand even with such high prices. Somehow the price of
most food items has sky-rocketed quietly. Watermelon seemed to be the most
in-demand fruit. The moment the mall helper emptied the cart, they were
disappearing into shopping carts.
I do
not know if it is an acceptable thing or not in other parts of the world but
here I see people, both kids and adults, drinking or eating stuff while still
shopping around or while waiting in line at the cash counter even before paying
for it! I haven't seen such a thing anywhere else!
When
I came out of the mall, the hot air hit me like heat from a furnace. The car's temperature gauge showed the temperature peaking at 46° centigrade.
As I
started driving back home I couldn't help feeling sad for the dozens of
men working on the road project, in the searing and sweltering heat. The poor souls start work at dawn and finish at dusk, working tirelessly, day after day, for a meager salary.
Yet, everything gets stacked up against them whenever there is a change
in recruitment policies!
In the coming days they would have some respite when work has to be compulsorily stopped from noon for three hours
during the summer. That should bring a bit of a solace for them!
Soon
the road project would be completed. It will be a big relief to the commuters as the overpass will ease the ever increasing traffic problems. It will be another milestone
for the state. For the companies involved in the project, it will be another achievement, another feather in their cap, and lots of money.
But the
sweat and blood of these men would be buried deep
under the concrete structures. No one will even remember the hundreds of nameless faces who toiled day in and day out under extreme conditions. Truly,
these are "the unsung heroes"!
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
No comments:
Post a Comment