Loaded with Responsibility ?

This is probably one, of a pair of elephants, mounted as a pillar or "stambh" at the hill Temple in Kollur, in the south, 140 kilometres inland from Mangalore on the western coast. Many folks who live in Mumbai, have family deity temples in these areas.

My blogger friend Magiceye, clicked this on one of his trips. (While I generally download photos with the photographer's permission for this blog, I couldn't do so for this one , for technical/copyright reasons. I did mention it to Magiceye on a chat, and lo behold, I magically got the elephant in my email ! Thank you !)

While I have the utmost admiration for the tough workmanship in ancient times, one cant help feeling how relevant this graphic is, to the situation in many countries, particularly, India, today .....

(photo by Deepak Amembal Magiceye)

Wrapped in chains,
presumed
artistic and decorative,
as tax paying citizens,
they stand,
quietly to the side,
solid in
their ordinary minds,
slogging
to support
the weight
of the nation's problems,
in their own,
God fearing,
dedicated ways....

Not so ,
our elected navigators
and mahouts,
bending away from it all,
absolving themselves ,
yet
poking and urging us
to carry
a bit more;
taxes,
insecurities,
prices,
doubts....

The God
inside the temple,
alone,
knows the truth....