Gulzar
Indian poet, lyricist and film-maker
As I took up the newspaper
Some small, insignificant stories fell into my lap.
A child, thrown into a dustbin
Was kept alive
By a dog who suckled him for three days;
Then, some people came and took the child away.
The dog now paws at the garbage day and night . . .
The Passport Commissioner looked up
From the application before him and said:
‘Any mole or wart on your body?
Any birthmark?
Any identification that cannot be erased?’
The Sikh thought for a few minutes
And then suddenly took off his shirt:
‘There is a burn mark, Sirji,
From ’84.
This can’t be erased!’
Newspaper, from the collection Suspected Poems (2017, Penguin Random House)
A 12-part series of portraits selected for Lounge by Rohit Chawla, who has photographed over 200 authors at the Jaipur Literature Festival over a decade.