Mahadev and his Horse

By Gaurav Parab

As I keep the book

That accidentally came to be kept

All those unclaimed that God took

And no one wept

I think about the horse

Perhaps the animal felt

The missing remorse

As his owner knelt

Mahadev’s horse driven cart

An undertaker to the untaken

The trigger to a new start

The last friend of the forsaken

A man, a horse and their garlands

For every death that cheated life

For every life, cheated of its breath

Unlikely fates, two likely friends

The horse passed on I hear

As his master searched

For a resting place for his peer

Like the other seventy thousand

Ammu, a friend to the unidentified

Ammu, an unidentified horse

Mahadev, god of gods
 Mahadev, a simple man who does his job

This poem is based on the inspirational life of Mahadev, Bangalore's friend to the forsaken. In the last three decades, Mahadev has provided a dignified burial to more than 70,000 people, whom no one claimed to be their own.  Subroto Bagchi's remarkable book, The Professional, starts with a chapter on Mahadev and I hope his life's work can be an inspiration to all of us.