“Hunger has been banished,” he thundered.

The crowd roared. Kalawati, too, feebly cheered.

They had been ferried in a truck to the election meeting. Meeting over, she clutched the 500 rupee note which she had been promised and hurried home. She didn’t want to lose one more child to starvation.

Vijai Pant is a teacher in a school in India. In his free time he lets his creative juices flow as a freelance writer and poet.