~ Vinodji - A Man in Reverence...~

 Thanks to the weather spoilsport, the urge to have a tea cuppa led me to an old tea kiosk which has its own uniqueness and that is – it is managed by a stalwart who has been doing this work with all his dedication and commitment for more than thirty long years… yes you read it right …’thirty long years’

Vinod-ji – the reverence comes naturally when you meet this man and fall for his contagious smile which leads your to his tea stall ‘Uttrakhand Tea Stall’ which he ‘founded’ as a small shanty. His entire life has been dedicated towards running this stall which started as a small tea shop and gained the singular distinction of being the longest running roadside tea shop for such long! As Vinodji has seen his hair turned grey and now they have completely turned white, his experience and determination says it all.

Even today the man in his early sixties, though he does not look so, wakes up at 4:00 a.m and starts preparation for his regular customers, who are mainly the labourers and now ‘urbanized’ dwellers from Axis bank which is across the roadside. The stall is opened till 10:00 pm every day , though nowadays the lockdown has hampered its opening and it gets closed by 8 p.m. His first daily task is to remember his God which he says has led him to tread such a long journey as he came empty handed from upper reigns of the Himalayas in order to make a life and career out of this big city. As time passed, he found an opportunity to start a small tea shop with only bare minimum he could save from his previous job. Single handedly, he started his kiosk with an aim to settle himself in this big city – it was early 80’s as he told me, “ I was hell-bent not to go back to my village and that I had no choice but to settle down and support myself in that phase of my life.!

In doing so, he had two things in his stride then – faith and hard work, which he could do relentlessly. Now that he terms himself as successful and with a strong daily base of customers and home in Delhi, he surely is a satisfied man – though now too, if you go and ask for a cup of tea, he would prepare it with all his love and infectious smile – you wont be able to keep silent at his kiosk and would definitely be breaking the norms of silence and start conversing with him.

My case was quite similar too, just after my morning jogging with my old pal and discussing matters as mundane, we both had the urge to have tea – the weather being benevolent and it was a little drizzle which prompted such desire in us – it lead us to Vinodji’s kiosk and as soon as he saw us coming, he started to give us his welcoming smile – the premature talk of weather led to discussion regarding the upcoming elections and also to other perky topics.

Suddenly, I noticed a young man working hand and glove with Vinodji – he was introduced to me as his son ‘Manish’ who was well qualified and was working in Gurgaon in IT sector – being a holiday today, he had just spared some time to help his father in his daily chores – though Vinodji has given employment to two associates. Installation of Paytm and Google pay scanner is purely his thought, as I could  clearly sense that his tech-savvy nature is giving wonderous results to Vinodji's' daily effort.

The conversation was routed to Manish and to what he does in life, to my surprise, he was a software engineer employed with an IT firm – it was his way of paying obeisance to his father and he had no shame in doing so – the best part being , he had a similar captivating smile on his face whilst he was doing his work – both the father-son duo  were a formidable combo – though the son didn’t seem too interested to tread on his fathers footsteps… but time is a great leveler… who knows…

My inquisition led me to ask questions to Vinodji about his family apart of his son and he smilingly said , “Sir, I have 4 daughters and 1 son” – all of my daughters are well settled, 2 are teachers and one is a UI designer in an IT firm and she is the one getting engaged tomorrow…. My question seems to be quite pertinent… I wished him a customary congratulations and internally felt the respect his hard work and accomplishments have done wonders for his family – the best part being, his son realizes his father’s life journey – for him being working on his tea stall on a holiday when others of his age are enjoying theirs is a silent salute to his father!!!