The man on the street

As I rushed to my office in my air conditioned car
on an extraordinary hot day;
my glance suddenly fell on him...

He just had one ragged and tattered cloth on his body
which was filthy, muddy and murky;
just enough to cover his essential parts.
His hair was ruffled and tangled, home of hundreds of lice.
He lay unwanted and discarded in a corner.
Just near him lay a polythene bag, with a dry chapatti sticking out
He tried to get hold of that bag, but just then
a dog came and snatched it away...

He laughed and laughed and laughed.

His laughter remains ingrained in my mind
forcing me to think, reflect and ruminate;
how the man must have reached this state?

Was it only a mental state which resulted due to absence
of some chemicals in the brain?
Or was his state a result of continuous and continual
disregard and disdain by his near or dear ones?
Or was it that his near and dear ones were lost forever?

It was a question whose answers are too difficult
to understand or comprehend;
nevertheless, all I could apprehend was
it was a life too precious to be lost so imprudently and recklessly....