~ A Daily Morning Saga...~

 He comes daily with a zeal and is chirpy and talkative. He has a rickshaw which he loves to maintain and decorate, the best part being that on the front wheel his faith is enshrined – his devotion to Lord ‘Shiva’ – a small mannequin that he found near a Peepal tree which someone had put. He just felt a strong connection when he saw his God laying idle near the Peepal tree and made the statue tied to the front wheel of his daily mode of transport and living – his scrap trolley!

Deepak has a unique style of living – he gets up at 4 a.m. and is quickly readies himself to work for another long hot and humid day – he is a native of Bihar and has been in Delhi for a month or so – he feels this city has given him much – “ Out there in my native village, I didn’t work but was wasting my time after my studies- there are no employment opportunities for youth like me !” – he spoke the other day. 

“I love the people of this city when they call me by my name “Deepu”, sometimes they misspell it as ‘Deepa…which changes my entire genre, he speaks with a smile” …I am alone in this city and live with my cousin brother and his family – his parents live near my home in our native village in Bihar!”

As I had already observed his talkative stance, everyday. I make it a point that his zeal captivates me in the morning saga. Delhi of today is full of neighborhood who are conservative and reticent and living a secluded life, the changing dimension of this city is nerve wrecking sometimes, the old neighborhood have sold-off their properties due to burgeoning clout of builder flats and skyrise apartments, they preferred to reallocate themselves to satellite towns like Gurgoan and Noida…Delhi has indeed changed…

Coming back to my good morning friend Deepu, the other day he was wearing a wi-fi earphone all through his work and I happened to observe it and commented “Wah Deepak, aap toh hi-tech ban gaye 😊!” – he laughed and whispered in a subtle voice, “bhaiya, gane suntan rehta hoon aur kaam karta rehta hoon, Gane achchey lagtey hain!” [ Brother, I love to hear songs and I keep on listening to them and work side by side] – I could instantaneously connect with his thoughts, a music buff myself, I can endlessly hear to diverse melody tunes without keeping an eye on the clock! 

Also, the type of work he is into, he has to focus to keep moving, Imagine fetching daily scrap for more than 100 odd households, almost stepping 4 floors up and down with out a lift for some of them, combined with ongoing Delhi weather, it indeed turns out to be an arduous task to achieve…. He does all this without any downtrodden inkling as he tells me “ Bhaiya, I came here empty handed and without any job and have to remain unemployed for quite some time, this is the first ‘Job’ I got and I have to honour it… this is just the beginning for me!” – Indeed, I said, keep on working Deepu, you never know what life might offer you in coming times…there are enumerable such examples who started from scratch and just by sheer jest of their hard work achieved much….hearing this, he took away with him two things – first , a sense of honour that being a trashmen he still have people talk to him while many of us would desist doing so! And second, that there is little sense of belonging towards him from households he daily visits to keep all our vicinity and our household clean and tidy…. “Thanks Deepu, you are the man of the day!” …

~ Raju Bangaya Gentleman...~

Today, I saw Raju after a long time, he has been a helping hand during that devastating ‘Pandemic Month’ last April – May’21, where the streets were empty and one can only hear the noise of that Ambulance siren – an ominous sign of deciding someone’s fate.

He was rock solid support as he used to come with full preparation and always had his stack full of all those necessary fruits and vegetables apart from other things, which a usual vegetable and fruit seller normally didn’t had on his cart – Items such as water bottles, Bread, Butter and even milk!

Money was not a problem for him, as many of us didn’t had the time or for that matter the courage to go to an ATM or bank to fetch money – so was the psychological effect Covid had jutted in our minds and souls – Raju had a turnaround for such a problem, he used to get a slip for each household and snipped an image for the day’s buy and whatsapped us all – really he made use of technology to have a contactless business model for the benefit of all – first time in my life I was seeing technology being used to its optimum other that what Whatsapp university is now famous for!

Raju is a native of a village in Bihar and stays with his family – two kids and his father, mother – I asked him, did not he risked his life and also of his family members whilst he used to come and provide his services to the entire block – many of Delhi residents were covid +ve and unfortunately deaths were the norm of the day. As he reverted, “ Sir, I took it as an opportunity to help people, I am not literate, I could sense the suffering of people prisoned in their homes and were fearful of the situation, you must not be knowing, I helped such old people who would have otherwise died of hunger – there were literally no one to help or assist them as their children were stuck up in other countries and could not come – these oldies gave their mobile numbers to them and they used to call me from foreign lands to supply their parents their general dose of groceries and even medicines…”

After the pandemic was over, they superlatively acknowledged my services and one of them even called me their 2^nd Son – that was my Karma, my biggest achievement in my life, I did all this selflessly as I took upon myself to help these oldies who could not afford to risk their life and go out and fetch their daily take of groceries, medicines and other paraphernalia… I thought them to be their son and did it…

The experience which Raju told me was just phenomenal, here was a guy who risked his life and saved the lives of so many without showcasing a whiff of his doings during the most trying days of Covid, when many people dreaded to go out , he boldly  took the onus upon himself to portray a son, brother, father and other namesake responsibility to many known and unknown souls who would not have survived this surge of pandemic.

Now that he comes to our block, he is caressed like a son and a brother to many households, he is received with open arms as he has been their life’s savior – His smile says it all, as he is busy adjusting his vegetables on his cart, with all his humble living but great thinking attitude, I always love to call him “ Raju Bangaya Gentleman’ to which he smiles and says, “ Kya bhaiya aap bhi na…” … Though he is Camera Shy, but what he did for all of us would be dreaded for many...that’s humanity…!!!

~ The Walk...~

He has been essaying this role of a ‘Pithu’ – aka ‘Porter’ for more than 20 years now. He has a daughter who stays in his native village somewhere in Jammu, so does his wife ‘Chameli’.

He caught my attention quite uniquely as he smoothly whispered as he came near me ‘ Bhaiya Pithu Chahiye?” – [Sir, do you want a porter?]. The journey was arduous as it was almost 13 kms uphill. A journey to Mata VaishnoDevi is known for its vast experiences, not only of treading this walk but also by way of meeting versatile people telling his own stories and life situations. Many of the porters and Ponny and horse owners are inhabitants of far-off places and live at the foothill of revered ‘Trikuta’ Parbat on which resides The Divine Mother ' Mata Vaishno Devi'

Now that he has developed habit of walking up-down in one instance, depending upon the customer he gets, he takes two back-to-back rounds once a while, though he tells me that he gets tired to the core when he overstretches himself. 

“Shamsher Singh hai Mera Naam – [My name is Shamsher Singh], and I am a native of Jammu and have been in this profession since more than two decades.”, he tells me in his baritone voice. At first look, you will find him as a wanderer, just passing his time, loitering around at the foothill observing the stack of tourists who have just come together as a flock of birds together ready to start their journey.

I don’t know what made him approach me and that he came to me with a subtle smile and gesture of politeness asking if his services were required. I instantly obliged as I had too much of a baggage to be carried and I was a loner. The ‘Deal’ was stuck instantaneously as he didn’t argued much and obliged to go with the government rates for such services, he further gave me his id card as a token of security – this is norm of the place.

The journey thus began, he went off carrying my bags, which he had tied up in a particularly unique fashion only he could have done, then suddenly, step by step has started to walk way and soon he just disappeared into the sea of humanity, not to be seen but with a promise to meet sometime later in the evening at a designated spot!

Treading step by step, I reached atop all withered away as the journey of 13 kms takes a toll on the body, especially if you are not a habitual walker – The first thought coming to mind was to catch a glimpse of Shamsher Singh as I had my belongings to change and Alas!, he was there just smiling at me.

‘Agaye Janaab, sab khari meri!” [Sir, reached safe and sound?], I revered in affirmative but with a laggard tone as I was tired beyond a measure – I asked him ‘Shamsher-ji, how you traverse this journey up and down, sometimes twice and still look afresh!”

He answered in a calm tone, which defeated my intellectual arrogance, “Sir, this is my Karma and duty and I am doing this for my family! I have submitted myself to the Goddess and have an attitude of complete surrender!” – He just nailed it – I had no words but to oblige him with a folded hands – I had just judged the source of such a satisfied man. A final goodbye awaited both of us and this happened too soon, as he had just made another deal with a customer who was in quick hurry to get down to catch hold of the evening train – I just thought, the tough terrain Shamsherji had just treaded and reached his destination and now was ready to go back, without taking much break. I asked him this question, he smiled and started to walk away , not before saying a final goodbye with a waving hand and saying ‘Jai Mata Di’…

~ A Slipper Story...~

So, what could be a gratification quotient in one’s life, be whatever, you are cool as a cucumber and the daily ups and downs of living does not bother your – rather you have tamed your mind and your thoughts to not hinder your daily behavior and they actually don’t bother you anymore – alas! you can be described in a state of daily nirvana!

This can be no joke as I personally know a man – a roadside dweller selling Chappals (local footwear) and always having a smile on his face – He sits on the pavement with no placed fixed and owning a shop is a distant dream for him, certainly not in his lifetime as he himself says so, that too with no regrets but his bubbly smile, life seems to be at ease with this gentleman.

Just the other day, I happened to be near his temporary setup, I was waiting for the currency change I owed after I purchased vegetables from a vendor. Suddenly, I chanced upon him as he was smilingly negotiating a ‘deal’ with his prospective customer, as I could observed, he was trying to sell a pair of slippers for Rs 100, which was the best price he was offering , but the customer was not obliged to the price being offered, the deal was thus fixed for Rs 90, taking a loss of Rs 10, he was still happily packing the pair of his sell whilst he boasted about its quality and replacement if it does not fit the bill.

This happened right in front of my eyes as it was just a 2-minute saga, the customer went off and he started to arrange his products in a unanimous arrangement and thus waited for his next customer.

He looked satisfied and contended with his work, it was quite obvious, as the smile on his face was authentic and described his cerebral state of mind.

The whole scenario was a life learning, how can a street vendor sitting on a pavement and earning a daily miniscule amount be so much happy. His own slippers that he was wearing were almost battered, his tericot pant and a unwashed pale yellow shirt showed signs of dirt, but internally he was a happy soul, his face always gleaming with a loving smile. A small talk made me aware of his precedents…as he told me that he comes in a humble Atlas -black cycle which he paddles for about 10 kms daily before he comes to our vicinity to make a living – before that he goes to the wholesale mart to buy slippers on wholesale prices.

I could not resist saying ‘Hello Bhaiya’ and could not stop myself to buy an unwanted pair of sleepers, not that I was in dire need of one, but just for the sake of remembrance of that life learning moment. He taught me the mantra of life… Be whatever be your predicament, be happy and live each moment…

I didn’t ask his name as he had other customers lined up and I certainly didn’t want myself to impede his sales, may be next Saturday flea market, I shall be honoured to have a general chit-chat with him, till then I am selfishly waiting for that moment….