rearview mirror

the other night,

as i stepped out of the rickshaw
i couldn't believe what i saw
in the rear view mirror,
just like every other,
but a girl spending the last
of her salary from the month past,
eerily resembling her mother -
the bindi slightly left of center.
8 pm, awaiting a call from a friend,
thinking of hitting the bed, instead.

adulthood came for her
and she saw it in the rearview mirror.