~ Guddu...Man on a Mission...~

 He comes everyday with his benchmark e-rickshaw, a semblance of his presence nearby as he hoots a peculiar horn which he has installed just recently. Ringing the bell and with a loud shout “Dhoodh) [Milk] , I get to know that ‘Guddu’ is here. I have never ever asked his formal name, for me this name begets a companionship, a sense of being a family to me.

Throughout the corona upsurge, he has been a constant source of motivation and a ray of hope for many of us who had secluded ourselves in the confines of our home. Motivation because, in spite of all the news of death and mayhem, here was a man who was doing his duty with full dedication and honor, knowing fully well that there are sick patients stuck up at their homes who cannot jump out of their peripheries – A lot of it depended on him to provide the daily groceries of essentials – from milk, eggs , bread, lassi (Butter Milk) and bread, Guddu was the man wanted by many of us in every morning.

Doing a thankless job, as many of us believed that he also has to earn his bread and butter and hence he takes this risk of coming out in open at peak of this pandemic where people are getting infected whilst at the closet of their homes. Whatever was our thinking, Guddu just kept on doing his work with equal zeal everyday – making our lives easier day by day!

Today, when I clicked his picture to be included in my blog, his eyes widened with a sense of pride. Many of us have thanked him for the marvel he has done at that critical juncture. Of course, we are not thankless souls after all, in those dire needs, everyone tried to help and assist each other , even if it was through kind words or by passing of keynote WhatsApp messages for medicines or Oxygen cylinders, whatever people could do , they did.

Amongst them there were many such invisible and nameless souls who kept on going on and on and didn’t held themselves back out of fear or inhibition of getting contracted by the virus – for they also have a family back home and are susceptible to the same vagaries of life as we all were!

I asked him, who all are there in his family and didn’t he feel a sense of apprehension when he used to come with same rigor everyday to sell his sundries to homes and sometimes entire containment zones.

His answer was quite astonishing coupled with a gleeful smile – “Bhaiya, I have my old father and mother and wife and two kids, we all are family of six people. I took ultimate precautions everyday I went home as I knew this disease is very contagious and it was running at its peak that time, for an entire two months, I stayed in another room near my home.”

The answer stupefied me and made me think about the dedication of this man and how he successfully balanced out his situation of life. He had to work and had to provide essentials to the needy ones – which he did without failing for even a single day and also made doubly sure that he should not be called the culprit of spreading corona at his home!

As I paid for my buy today, a special mention of thanks was passed on to Guddu from me, His smile said it all - but for me it was really important to make him realize that what seems to be his mundane work was a life savior for many of us!

Many of us have such “Guddu’s” in our vicinity who are invisibles by virtue of regular work they do for the benefit of all – sometimes they are street vendors , garbage collectors or delivery boys – all have families to support and all are equally susceptible to the virus as we are – today I thank them All for their unflinching effort and support and helping us go through that tough phase which made us more human and to see another day of HIS existence!