Mecca of glaring extremes

Initially, I took an utter dislike for this city- principally because of the absolute disparities between those who lived in penthouses and bungalows and those who lived in rat holes, footpaths, railway platforms; between those who dined and partied at sumptuous restaurants and the impoverished lot who barely had anything to eat; between those who swelled with pride underneath the Marks & Spencer and the little girl on the road who was not ashamed of having a piece of cloth to cover her emaciated corpus.
It pulled me to a vacuum of the human indifference we live in. This is the way these marginalized lot have been living (?) for years??
It’s appalling to see how people pull out all the stops to make a living. It’s a virtual exhibit of the human scale of efforts. Take a ride in the local- you would know what I mean- vendors, coming of all age, right from a toddler (I say, mark my word -toddler!) to the almost dying, shriveled mass of men and women. The lonely people. It reminds of the song

to be contd