On a cold afternoon, reading the news item about female foetuses found in a garbage drum, I cringed with horror and pain. It's too late though; no one can do anything about these innocent victims now. These girls could have grown up to be beautiful women who could have shouldered the pain and responsibilities of their parents. If only they were given a chance. Deemed as burden before their birth, they were aborted and thrown out into the trash. A female child does not saddle her parents with misery or affliction; she is a joy for the soul. If only ignorant people could understand this. The following lines have been written as an attempt to try depict the horror of murdering an innocent baby and then discarding it in a garbage dump. Cold rain falls in slanting sheets. Overflowing with water, drains spew putrid water and vile contents. Rattles violently a metallic garbage drum; Fruit peels, dirty rags and plastic bags are cast forth and in an undulating row, line up five ballooned bags. A black spotted cat sniffs them and shreds the polythene to stop its flow downwards. Staring vacantly at rotten flesh, it gnaws at it under the black rain. The bags keep journeying in the fetid water. Any water is good- to seek nourishment to cling to life and to taste love. The rotting babies once curled up within a warm womb, remain unfazed by the darkness. Regarded as purposeless and worthless, someone dug them out of the circle of life. Reconciled to their fate of plastic shroud and water burial, foetuses- discarded, wasted, and otiose- keep floating in the cold water. Read more by Sameera here.