Sitting in my office, I sometimes
venture out for a tea cuppa, the urge to have my favorite beverage is
synonymous with the weather we are living by. Calling for one such urge, I happen
to meet a young kid – a roaming cobbler with the name ‘Akash’. Whilst having my
tea, he happened to come to me with an expectation – whether I would give him a
chance to clean my sport shoes ( white in color) and if that can be done, it
would be his first earning since morning – time had already clicked afternoon
by then.
Though I was not in that mindset,
but a general chit-chat opened between him and myself. Earlier he was very hesitant
to tell me his whereabouts – what was his name and from where he comes but after
putting him at ease, he was able to shun some light on his life and his current
situation. He told me that his name was ‘Akash’ and that he comes all the way
from Noida – now that intrigued me , as Noida was almost other end of the city
and what made him travel so much to come to work in this part of Delhi. He told
me that he has been coming here from 2 years now and he is quite familiar with
the place – he started to come with his friend earlier just to loiter around
but soon learnt that the place is bereft of any cobbler or a shoemaker. As his
father is into this profession since long, it was the best choice life had to
offer.
His bag seems to be heavy –
stacked with paraphernalia which is of use to him in his day to day discharge
of his duties. He wears a mask which he bought himself of his own money – a fact
that he was very proud of. I asked what made him work at this stage of his
life, he quickly replied ‘Paise kamane hain Bhaiya!” – I saw a sense of self-esteem
and hope to live a dignified life in brightened eyes of this lad. As his school
is shut due to Covid, he goes back by 4 pm and reaches his home by 5:30 and
thus helps his mother in her household chores, thereby in the late evening he
gets time to study – He has made a life of discipline all by himself with no pressure
from his parents.
Nudging further into his life, he
told me that there are about 4 members in his family and that he is studying in
class 7th in a ‘Sarkari’ School in Noida. He has a younger sister in
same school in class 4th. Also, that his father is a cobbler and his
mother a housewife, probably he has learnt the art of shoe servicing from his
father as I presumed rightly so.
By now we had become good friends
and Akash was feeling confident in being conversant with me – he quite coyly
asked me if I can provide him with water – the request was immediately executed
and I could see him gulping down the liquid as thirst had almost overpowered him.
Having done so, he thanked me and said if I had any shoe-work to be done at
that moment – my reply was in the negative.
As time slipped by, the moments
had come to close this chance rendezvous with a hope to meet next time – till
then , I made Akash a promise that I shall give him a virtual treat coming Monday
and make him a show-time hero to be seen on this platform – With a laugh on his
face, I now fulfill my promise with a prayer and hope that Akash would one day
be doing good for himself and his family…God Bless Akash!
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