Late in the morning ______ when the Star nearest to the earth was still camouflaged behind a patch of monsoon clouds ______ a party of workers had been busy, filling the sacks with stone chips beside a walled pond. The lane that ran parallel to the pond was mostly solitary and somber as the lock-down in the wake of corona's second wave had kept people cooped up inside their houses.

Notwithstanding, the daily wagers braved the lock-down, slogging away at their work to provide a two- square meal to their family, when I, as a well-fed opulent occupant of a lavish house, sat smugly on my chair, puffing at a posh cigarette, in the safe haven of my balcony, readying myself to capture the proletariats below in my camera, to be uploaded on my FB wall to appear as a solicitous on-looker.

___________ D. S.