Aaj Ki Raat Bahut Garm Hawa Chalti Hai

Who wants to sleep on the footpath? Yet out of sheer helplessness, millions do. On a hot summer night, how uncomfortable and frustrating it should be to sleep on stones and gravel. This precious poem by Kaifi Azmi captures the frustration and its essence. It traces human evolution from animals to civilized societies. But after all this evolution, labourers who toil in the day and make beautiful palaces are forced to sleep on the footpath in night. Only if some magic happened and a window bringing in cool breeze, opened in the stifling wall… a metaphor for the cruel and heartless society… Rajiv Krishna Saxena
Keywords: Kaifi Azmi, sleeping on road, footpath, hot night, frustration, labourers, human evolution, civilized society]