Passing through a busy market, I chanced upon a man lying inconspicuous to nearby hustle bustle and almost in his deep sense of sleep. Lying on the pavement, Kishore enjoys his quick nap and gets ready for the second shift to earn a few quick bucks. Paddling for about 30- 40 kms a day in his 8-10 hours sojourn is no mean task.
As he tells me “Sir, to earn bread
and butter is not an easy task in Delhi. People argue with us on flimsy
grounds, they don’t think before speaking. They don’t realize how much physical
work is needed to pull a rickshaw!”
His pain is inevitable, quite
often after a long day’s work, He gets cramps on his calves and there is no one
to take care of him. I asked about his home and he was quite reluctant to give
a reply to my question. After some time, he broke his silence, “Sir, my family
lives in Bastar – as mall town in Bihar, we have a small land where we do
farming. I have two daughters (aged 6 and 8 years of age), both studying in
primary schools there. There is not much to eat as we are 3 brothers including
me. We cannot fend for ourselves on small piece of land, hence I reside here. Every
month I send them financial help by way of parting with what I have earned through.
I keep a small amount for myself and send them consistent payments. I live in a
small makeshift tent on the pavement and tie my rickshaw to a lamppost for
there is a great danger from robbers or drug addicts.
Asking about what he thinks about life now in midst of pandemic, he quickly replies “Sir, life has gone haywire, there is almost no income, nobody sits on a cycle rickshaw nowadays. The business was already down due to onslaught of e-rickshaws who were making merry but transporting 5-6 passengers all the time without any effort. For us we can only accommodate at max 4 passengers and have thus to paddle around to their destination without a roof – be it scorching sun or incessant rain. Pandemic has made situation worse, there are not many customers who want to take the risk of taking a rickshaw now, as they percept it can be highly contagious!”
Kishore has no choice left but to
hang on in life. Many a time he thinks of going back to his native village, but
a sudden jerk of thoughts make him stop going there – he sees himself to be
adding to the burden of livelihood on already constrained resources.
Kishore tells me, many a times he
sleeps empty stomach in the night, not before partaking 3-4 glasses of water to
quench his appetite. He is growing weak day by day out of lack of nutrition,
though sometimes he queues up for a free lunch being given by temples of some
noble souls.
As a final talk, Kishore is quite
apprehensive about a future for himself, he thinks life has gone haywire for
all and sundry and not just for himself, though his thoughts are in tandem with
the prevailing situation, but an optimism still overtakes Kishore’s thoughts – “Sir,
I pray everyday for a good future and life for everyone. No one should die and
everyone should have a beautiful future and a living, for that is what we all take
birth” – Words of wisdom flows from a man who has almost sitting at nadir of
life, but still has not lost hope and sees a future for himself and humanity.
As the conversation folds, It is time for our Kishore to go down to a quick sleep and reverberate his energies not before he stands up and starts looking up prospective customers with prawning eyes – as they say circle of Life never stops, Kishore for me was a live example of this idiom!
