~ “Kishen” - The Young Entrepreneur ~

 Chit chatting with my friends and having a glass of lemon juice, I suddenly chanced upon makeshift stall in front of me - ‘Ram Ladoo Bhandar’ as the name is famous in our vicinity and hardcore street food foodies quite often throng the stall to have delicacies it offers. What is captivating to the eye is not serpentine queue sometimes one sees through at peak time in the evening when people are desirously waiting to have their plate of ‘Ram Ladoos’, but a young lad earnestly working so hard along with his father that he does not spare time to look up

I have quite often seen him washing dirty plates and picking up leftovers from a makeshift bench that the father son duo have positioned near there stall for customers to cherish their feed.

I quite often see him doing Sundry works which are of immense help to his father – Work types such as cleaning the bench, picking up leftover plates and quite oddly even frying the ‘Ram Ladoos’, whilst he puts himself in great danger in doing so.

He has quickly become cynosure of all eyes as according to his age and physical appearance, he works so dedicatedly towards the task assigned to him – His father has a reprimanding tone and quite often calls him with high pitch but ‘Kishen’ as he calls him, is always a consistent and obeying son trying to beat time. Today as I observed him, he was busy cleansing utensils and for that he was trying to prepare the spume which is needed to do so!

Aiming to finish a hoard of dishes which lied on a pile – Kishen had taken this as a task to complete within a timeline set against all odds. For him, his ‘Karma’ was his playground – At this stage of his life, he is learning the tricks of the trade and is a quick learner – Talk to him and he would give a confident reply that he loves doing all this paraphernalia and helping his father.

I asked him once ‘Do you love all this?”, his answer was in affirmative and that too with a big smile.

At other time, I asked “Don’t you study?” – he replied “ I study in the morning and afternoon and then in the evening I come here with my father and help him setup his stall – in the interim, I do menial work what my father tells me to do!”

“What you want to be when you grow old Kishen?”, I once asked.

He was a bit shy first of all then suddenly when this question was repeated by his father – his reply was that “ I want to convert this makeshift stall to a proper shop and start his own setup and employ people – I was flabbergasted on hearing about his vision that he had perceived for himself – Kishen had made up his firm plans to be an “Entrepreneur” at this stage of his life and that is why he was so dedicatedly engrossed in all types of works in his father’s stall. He could strongly visualize that right in front of him were legalized DDA shops and one can operate this type of setup from a concrete shop and thus have a formal arrangement. He knew fully well that for this to happen they would be needing lot of money – this again added to his zest to come with his father and contribute in his own way!

Enquiring from his father about his working so early in his life, he says – “ I have three sons, Kishen is the youngest of them all – he is 7 years old but comes with me on his own, he loves to be in the market and do things and is not shy of anything, seeing his zeal and dedication, I don’t stop him accompanying me. “

Nowadays, my visit to the local mart has an aim – to see Kishen working with his father hand in glove and to bless him internally for him to achieve his aim in life , but surely not before completing his studies and become educated enough to open not only one shop but string of shops with his hard work and dedication!