~ What a Ride...~

There are endless stories on the roads of human grit and endurance – Many of them are silent and live in their hearts and minds, they keep on living a simple and subdued life as if nobody. You need not find them anywhere but they are just besides you, may be as a helper, a rickshaw puller, a garbage collector, sweeper or car washer , just anybody who has compromised his /her life for the sake of his family.

I met such a soul in near past when I had to borrow a service of an eRickshaw – these vehicles are scattered all over Delhi streets and are typically a nuisance to my psyche not because they add to the vehicular density but the way they are driven in a haphazard manner.

As I stood across the street to find one, suddenly an old uncle who was just lazing around across the street on his erickshaw saw in me a prospective customer and came with a question

“Kidhar Jauge?”  - “Where you want to go?”

I told him the proposed destination to which I intended to go, his next question was quick as if he was in a hurry and had not even halved his daily earning target.

“Aajao Baith jao, aapke liye hi aaya hoon!” – “ Please sit, I came for you only!”

I was deeply flattered as that was the truth, the moment I stood up looking for an eRickshaw, uncle had an eye on me and just came within no time.

As the journey started, I saw in him many facades – he was polite and had manners quite unlike many other folks of his genre. The talkative nature that I have, I could not control myself to form a quick rapport with uncle – there was surely something in him that made me pull towards him. 

As our talks progressed, he shared his story about his family . He has two sons, the younger one has left him in lurch and has moved out with his family. Subhash uncle’s elder son passed away in 2017 due to a cardiac arrest – “ Who mere hatho mein hi gir gaya!’ – “He died in my arms’.

He later told me that he retired as Peon from a nationalized bank and was comfortably living with his two sons until his elder son’s death – “He has two daughters and a wife, who stay with us, my younger son and his wife didn’t want to share their burden and so they left us. Now I have started to work again and hire this eRickshaw on a monthly basis and struggle to make ends meet!”

I asked Subhash uncle’s age – he replied with a poignant smile which said many unspoken words. Beta, my age is around 75 years , I just want to thank God for he is still keeping me alive and healthy to cater to my elder son’s family – He has two young school going daughters, I want to see them educated – they go to school and I don’t want them to be illliterate !” 

Hearing his story I was loss of words, I silently revered the honest talk he did with me, but there were some underlying messages to learn – “Life can be unruly and put you in situations you never ever thought of!” and that clinging on to that higher power called ‘God’ , be whatever comes your way is the real test of faith and patience for oneself and finally the most valuable lesson Subhash uncle taught me was “ Never retire, till your last breath and till the time your body allows you to work, just be whatever you do, keep on walking!, you will love your existence!

As I reached my destination, it was more than giving him his due credit of service he had done , for it was not only he had brought me to where I wanted but had uplifted my soul – a deep sense of love and gratitute flowed through me as an adrenaline feeling, I shook hands with him , he gave me a touching surprise when he said “Beta, mera bada beta tumhare jaisa hi tha…tumhein dekh kar tabhi mein ghoom kar tumhare pass aaya to give you a ride…” – “Son , my elder one was just like you…When I saw you standing, I quickly came to give you a ride…” , I just could not handle the situation and kept on seeing him till he just drove off – time just stood still for me…and it still is….