~ Kabadiwalla, thus he Comes...~

 He is regular ‘Pheriwalla’ in our vicinity and comes every alternate day to fetch the household scrap – it is his regular feature to shout “Kabadi” again and again to make his presence felt that he has arrived.

“Kabadi” – the namesake that he shouts makes us all understand the work he does – with all his dignity and commitment, he makes sure that the customers, as us, get the best deal possible. We have sold our household trash aplenty without a bargain as we know he is the best – even if he makes a skewed profit of the deal, the sheer aura of “Yogesh -Ji” as I like calling him, has been captivating.

I have seen him treading our society in multiple rounds, shouting with his penchant voice “Kabadi”, our bond with him magnified in the last two years when pandemic struck, he was always on his toes, making a leeway for us to not venture out to throw our trash or for that matter hoard it at some obscure corner of our homes – he did some innovation by using technology to his use and shared his WhatsApp and telegram id’s – the photos could be clicked for old fans, tables and TV’s and other spare paraphernalia that we all earnestly wanted to dispose of. 

As time passed and the pandemic subsided, our physical interaction began to happen and during one of those days when I was disposing off newspaper items, I had a frank talk with him. He came out to be just another father around, having 3 kids and other family consisting of wife and old mother and father.

The subject of kids always intrigue me and that lead to further conversations between us – “ All kids are school going bhaiya. The eldest daughter has given her boards this year for class 12^th, the middle one is a son who is in class 10^th and the little one is in class 6^th.” – his speaking of these words was pregnant with a sense of achievement as I further enquired that Yogesh had not studies himself beyond class 8^th.

He has a tough job in hand as he strolls with his cycle-riskshaw from street to street with plastic waste and other collectibles, it is certainly a tough job and in this roasting heat, it makes things worst for him – as he carries a makeshift plastic bottle under a canopy of plastic bags which makes the water little ‘Cool’- as per him, he has made ways to survive with his day to day ordeal – so what was his zeal to struggle so much and what is his aim in life, I asked him this time when he came to fetch month’s newspaper trash – his answer was straightforward as if he was a self-motivated man on a mission –“ Bhaiya, my family and especially my kids are my real motivation, inke liye karr raha hoon” [doing it for my kids].

I appreciated his commitment to this great cause, the cycle of penury can be broken by such acts of dedication and motivation, Surely, Yogeshji is one such soul who I resolutely believe is on great path and the one who would break the shackles of misfortune through his vision… probably, time has the answer to this…

 

~ GenNext Girl…~

She came with a whim and ignoring all of the customers standing in the shop turns her head to look out for the refrigerator. Quickly she finds one and by saying “excuse me uncle” , he addresses me with a smile. Turning my head, I acknowledge her etiquettes and give her a space to open up the refrigerator – she quickly picks up her favorite drink – a can of “Coke” and closes the door and heads towards the paying counter.

Sliding through all of us, she confidently asks the shopkeeper and thus speaks only two words which makes all other customers turn their heads and look towards her …” Uncle, Scanner hai?”, she is certainly not an attention seeker but her gesture makes us all give her a captivating look.

The shopkeeper quickly puts forward the PayTM scanner with a smile and also with a sense of intrigue to see how this 11–12-year-old girl will pay for a can of “Coke” she had picked from the outside refrigerator. The girl is in a hurry and quickly scans the PayTM scanner and pays the requisite amount.

Two aunties standing by the counter see all this happening and are feeling a little outdated, as they were not accustomed to the new pay method and were buying their goods in cash – the young girl had certainly made her point and quickly paid the shopkeeper and said “Thank You Uncle!”, turned around put her purchase in the bag she was carrying. Finally, she caught hold her of bicycle and confidently turned it around and paddling around she just vanished within no time!

All this happened in just a fraction of second, we all laughed and also hailed the confidence of such a small girl, who was all by herself and not escorted by any senior or parent – a rare sight in Delhi at this hour!

The shopkeeper was a little amused as he hardly gets such a cute customer quite often, the ladies were bemused with what they had seen, a little girl brimming with confidence and etiquette makes her mark and sets an example for many of us. One of the auntie could not stop her vocal chords and thus spoke “ Aaj kal di generation 😊 baut confident hegi hai, is chataki jahi kudi wal dekho! [today’s generation is very confident, just look at this young girl…] – her Punjabi accent was a perfect one liner made us all smile – but not before I giving her a soft reply  - “ Auntiji, zamane de naal chalna chahiyeda…eh generation apne time naal sahi hege ne…[ Aunty, we should be with the times, this generation is with the times..]…

We all had a final laugh before we took to our own chores, not before acknowledging todays event as trailor of things to come, I know she lives in the vicinity, looking forward to meeting her again…this time surely she deserve my kudos for the GenNext girl she is…

~ Are you Unique...~

So, are you unique? Just a question popped up in my mind out of nowhere or may be not – but out of an observation that came across just recently. Going by someone’s school result, I started to reminisce my school days and that how I would perform. A streak of sweat line used to start making its mark along with a pulsating feeling when the report card was to be given- Alas! I used to pass but not with those marvelous ‘Flying Colors’ everyone expected me to be in …. As history repeats itself, I was going chatting with my new friends who happen to be school kids – till recently they were discussing their careers and what they want to be in life – everyone had high dreams except one – though he too was aiming for something better but did not had the guts to portray himself in the same league , reason being – he was a IInd grader with 63% marks in his 10^th class exams… he wanted to study science but could barely afford to get admission in Commerce in not so famous school – but on the contrary when other kids were boasting about their %ages – almost every one was 90%center …a common academic parlance at nowadays, he stood his ground as he termed himself to be ‘Out of league and Rat race!”

He had a good and observable point, though it is too early to commit to his wordings and thoughts, as only time would give an appropriate answers to his thinking – but internally, I was in rogue tandem with his thoughts as destiny had certainly made him unique in sense and stand aloof out of those 90%centers ..his family gave him an opportunity to repeat class 12 , to which he firmly said “No”….

As in middle age of my life , I have observed that all of us reach somewhere or the other slowly or steadily, some get too fast but become victims of success and they get suck into the rigmarole of responsibilities of high job profiles and the position they command , knowing fully well that up there it is total loneliness and nothing else….there have been many stark examples of people who have risen to the occasion and started slowly and lived with their set of losses, but have never had the feeling to quit- midst of all the expletives and lane wordings – these have added to their motivation level – a classical case being ‘Radhika Gupta’ – MD of edelweiss Mutual Fund, the youngest CEO at age 33 makes a point – “ With a crooked neck and squint in the eyes, and many interview rejections and a suicide attempt, can make it to the top, why cant you?” … for her, destiny has given her own uniquity and that makes her class apart from the rest….

So, when you read about cases when a visually impaired Delhi government teacher with a correspondence education but with a gumption to succeed really does succeed when she gets overall 48^th rank in UPSC – one of the toughest exams to crack, she capitalized on her “Uniqueness” – she is different and therein she performed with her limited abilities….

We often ignore the lateral uniqueness that we have been imbibed, the rigmarole of our daily lives are much demanding, to compete and perform is everyday mantra, but to find your own uniqueness, we have to talk to our own selves and delve into our beings, sit in soberness sometimes and ask your inner being about what uniqueness you have been bestowed with… you can surely capitalize on that….who knows what comes out of this experiment… but at least ponder…!

~ Unfathomable Faith...~

 He has a peculiar job in hand and that seems to be strewn across a street lane which this gentleman visits on those special occasions – ‘Saturday is one of the day when he surely visits to certain shopkeepers in the marketplace – these shopkeepers take his ‘Services’ on this special day to ward of evil – such is the tumultuous faith on the power of the unknown that ‘Babu’, as he likes himself to be called fondly, has found himself a job for more than a decade.

From where does he outsource the necessities to make a bunch of lemon and green chili and jumbled them up with a string and thus makes his ‘Sell’ possible to be tied to the front doors or entrance of shops and showrooms he visits. Considering the cost of lemons in todays world, this seems to be a costly affair – but not so as the magnificence and the positive vibes this act of pacifying the gods bestows much generosity on the psyche of the meek shopkeepers.

Ask Babu if he believes on this practice truly and that it will ward of evil effects of negative forces – he smiles but does not say a word – his smile has zillion meanings but to my mind it means a big farce!

Living in this part of the world with our opinions and belief systems, Babu are the best keepers of faith for many of us – be it giving alms on special occasions to obligate the mercy of Gods or offering un-quantified goodies to Gods for our own benefit, we do it all – such are we, that we believe that all hell would break loose if we wont do a gesture which other are doing by rote! 

Coming back to the basics, Babu was tying the knot of carefully weaved lemons and green chilly bunches in quick fashion as if he was in a hurry – as my observations came true, he indeed was busy today as I saw another pack of knots which were qualified to be tied to showrooms – it was well past afternoon and he indeed had to finish his task quickly to accomplish his objective – as he steered passed me, I asked him the price of one set of his “Sell” – he smiled and said “Rs 20/- only!” – “Do you want one?”

Without wasting any time I was quick to answer a big “No”, but definitely asked the purpose of him tying these to the main gates of shops – he was equally quick to respond in a timely fashion – “It is to ward of any evil eye on the shop!” – I had no further questions as I deemed understood that Babu wont be engaging in a long conversation, considering his state of mind and gesture – he left many questions in my mind which I still gives me a restless upheaval – these may be quite sensitive to many and emulate strong faith systems which many of us quite follow without a wane but to me it certainly defies logic to my finite mind…. the quest follows…