A ray of hope

She was happy. There was finally some hope in the end of a long dark tunnel. Her children would eat well from tomorrow. There is a chance that they might even get to go to school, and become someone important. Her spirits were high. Her husband, a bulldozer driver, will get some work from tomorrow. She silently thanked the gods for all the new demolition work on the Cooum bank and the extra people needed to do it. In any case, there would be food in the plate tomorrow.

Down the drain

It was his dream. He had put in a lot of effort to realize it. He had pledged every material possession he had, taken a loan and borrowed some more. It was his own house. It was small, lovely and at the wrong place. He had been sold the land saying that all the documents were in order. And now, the government order to clear encroachments around the Cooum river endangered his house. Cooum in the outlet for sewage in Chennai. There was nothing he could do. His dreams were going down the drain.