~ ALI...~

 He came running upstairs and whilst he was in a hurry, he didn’t respond to my customary “Hello” and went of in a whisker… he was running late and had to do his task well in time and that was to wash the utensils so that we can all have a cup of evening tea – He is employed by an office lady who seems to be helping him in find an employment while he goes to a temporary school.

The best part being “ALI” as he likes himself to be called, is a reticent fellow, all of 15-16 years of age. His mother is a homemaker and father a factory employee who masters in knitting and stitching. Just yesterday when he came on a tight timelines – As I asked him why he was in such a hurry, his caring reply had touched my heart… “Madam, staff and you must be waiting for evening Tea…” , this he spoke in a smiling gesture and we all sitting there were somewhat touched though none of us showed that in an overwhelming emotion.

In next 10 mins, he was almost through with the utensils which he had washed in a flurry of dashing noises symbolic of his eagerness to serve us tea – The fist time I met him and said a “hello” to him, he dint replied but passed it as reverting reply… I was immediately told to have tea made by him… As I am a “TEA- totler” of sorts, with an elegant knack of good aromatic tea populated with ginger, I took up the challenge to taste its aroma.

Ali doesn’t like study and wants to open his own food stall, he is saving money and plans to hit the turf in next couple of months, and you know what… “He wants to begin with a ‘Tea Stall’ of his own. His passion to cook some fine delicacies also came out of the woods when one day he made us all eat one of my favorite recipe “ Rajma Chawal” … it made my day… As my perception of India got justified… This country is full of exemplary talent the only flaw being the pedestal… if Guys like ALI get a hand holding, he can be a full-fledged entrepreneur in some years…. And who knows “Chaayos” is a thing of the past…

Mind it, I have had a tea cuppa there too… with all exotic flavors one can get in that mega Tea restaurant, Ali certainly can be a tough challenge to their founding fathers….

As he was done with his chores, smilingly came to me with an expectation and that was of his feedback. As usual, I gave him 10/10 for his Midas touch, his shyness and smiling glance always add flavor to each cup we all have… Ali you are what you are, all we want us is to see you doing something good in times to come… You have been certainly bestowed with talent .. marketing is what is need of the hour… lets see when this gets open to the world….

~ A Happy Multitasker...~

They both were sitting in their natural calmness watching the roadside traffic passing by. The Gent was smoking his “Biddee” (a village smoke as we call it in India, though it is a cult in itself for habitual smokers!), that his wife shouted in her raw vernacular tone – none of it was able to be understood by me or my pal who I had accompanied to have a taste of ‘roasted Corn’ as the aura demanded so.

He came back running whilst h crossed the road in no time, seeing in me and my friend a prospective customer, quickly he asked me “ Kitni Bhunoo” (How many should I roast?), in the same parlance I revert “Dou” (2 )! And he was quick on it.

As he was doing his work, an unknown visitor approached him, a girl all in her teens and happily asking “Papa, mere liye bhi ek!” 😊 …(Father, one for me too!),. The next step was sure to qualify him to be a doting father, he immediately scanned his sack of maize and effortlessly selected the best amongst the lot – I jokingly said” You could have roasted this one for us!”, he laughed and reverted “ This was specially saved for my daughter.”

This tinge of love was all he could give to his daughter as he sat on the footpath and tried for a decent earning. I further enquired about his daughter’s education – “Sulekha, studies in class 8^th in a nearby government school. She plays with her new found friends in neighborhood park in the evening. In the morning, I change my profession to be a Car washer, in the afternoon a rickshaw puller and this time as I cannot see much, I change track and be a roadside seasonal vendor – now it is maze, after some days when a trace of winter sets in , I will have a cart of winter specialties as roasted pop-corn and groundnuts.”

As he game me my buy and was paying him for his sell, I asked him where the family was from – he said was born in Delhi when his parents had migrated from Bengal. “My wife is originally from UP and we met here in Delhi” – no wonder the camaraderie between both him and his wife was visible. As a family powerhouse, she was all in support for her husband and was busy helping him in his makeshift pavement shop.

As I understood, they are a happy lot with not much demands from life – the smile on the faces is a testimony to throw back at life what it has offered them – they are certainly from the downtrodden strata of society BUT happy – an oxymoron now days. We see such people around our vicinity and on carefully observing them, we can surely take life lessons for us to tread a path of joyfulness in life and respect what life has to offer us…. In theory this looks good, but start to lookout for such people around you who live in the practicality of such thoughts…It Is tough to exemplify but not impossible…  

~ Give to receive...~

It is about satisfaction and when you see people living in deprivation and destitution…you seem to be way ahead of what providence has given you , do you really value it though?? – Ask this question to yourself not as a sense of comparison but with an open thought

The simple thing in life is a struggle for them…the next meal would come on plate or no in itself is a challenge.

Everyone is in search of that inevitable “Truth” – Who am I and what is the purpose of such a living will confront you once in a lifetime, mostly during the mid-phase of one’s life.

Ample talks I have had with many and the crux converges to basic necessities of life – food, clothing, social security and a secure bank balance, anything much above than this is actually not a necessity but greed. India hasn’t had the phenomenon of “Philanthropy” much to the tune of the west where big business tycoons and companies commit billions towards various philanthropic causes but the trend is catching up of late, when you read big business houses such as Wipro and Adani committing huge sums of money that they simply “don’t Want’ to embark on a new business venture but sounds prudent to give it all away for social causes which they think is much more important and beneficial to the society.

When Jackie Chan donates almost his entire gamut of his wealth and persona and wants his children to just start afresh and live life with a sense of learning – it definitely defines a different set of minds quite unlike many others who want their children to just sit on readymade throne of their parents and bypass any struggle and grill of life. As our prudent oldies often say... “ Your are getting because you gave once…time and dimension is not known to you but someone has a perfect record!” … If you intuitively perceive what this means, you will have ample of examples which fits the bill, you did receive many things just for “Free”… doing just nothing or did not run after it!...

There are zillion souls struggling for a singular meal which they cannot afford for themselves or their kids, they are honest and also hardworking but still lack the acumen to become competent or rich to beat penury, the life thus lived is full of deprivation and destitution, but they keep going as they are not left with a set of ample choices!

As life culminates, what I have observed of people who have had phenomenal posts and job titles over their career spans, just sitting idle and guessing and asking some of life’s intricate questions …such as “ What we came here for?” , “What next?”, “ what so much hard work or running-around was worth it?”

Don’t know if such a contemplative  bug has hit you…for me it indeed has….

~ Live the Show...~

 We all have 24 hour day at our disposal, it is our perception of what we make out of it, the same is true for the entire spectrum of life that has been bestowed on us – taking an average of 65-70 years of hale and hearty living (a hard presumption in current scenario), it is us who have to decide what we make out of it.

My daily chores which consist of brisk walking and yoga for more than two years have given me an alternative perspective of life, a life which many of us should live and that we came here for – the rigmarole and jingles of life what we have made out of it – the fake dreams and aspirations were never to be a true calling for anyone on this planet – though we made it a frivolous aim.

No wonder, the society is falling in the trap and getting depression and frustrated – what you decide may not happen, all you can do is to work sincerely and honestly to achieve your objective – this is simple to understand but very complex to follow. The young today is full of overexert confidence and the energy needs to be channelized in path which gets converted to something useful for not only themselves but also the society – remember, you surely are a citizen of this society and then global family, which has given us every resource for us to propagate and act.

The best time of the day begins in the morning when we are fresh – give time to your living, think, ponder, and decide the course of the day – the best you can do as according to your abilities, leave rest to HIM.

Today, we had a deep discussion about Bhagwat Gita – it has both elementary and complex teachings of life – any way you take it – “We all face situation on a day to day basis and ponder to react in our own way.

The choice to react in a particular way is our own – the way you choose it will simplify your life and living , though the outcome of the situation will happen in its own way – the sooner the better we all learn “ – this was the source of our generalized talk, it encompasses the whole living and nobody can abstain from its clutches , yet many will disagree and keep on running the show in their own way and expecting the outcome to steer their own way as they may like. Doing so, they will fail many times and at times they may pass, but the best possible explanation comes from the quote from the Bhagwat Gita

“BG 4:23 Karma Yogi-who is free from attachment, whose mind is fixed in Self-knowledge, and who does work as a service to the Lord merges completely in the knowledge form as Brahman”

Start living by this precinct, life will start to throw subtle surprises at you…see it for yourself…

~ Be Happy, Make Merry...~

What a conversation it was, full of laughter and mimicry, some days are just an excellent start, today was one of those days. As a resolution one of my ‘walking partner’ , who happens to be a businessman has a versatile personality, he is vivacious and takes life for granted as he has seen his own set of ups and downs through his journey. He is almost 50 and has seen it all, deaths, business closures, job losses and now that he is very well established and financially very well off, he sees no point in running after life and that pound of pelf… for him, it is to remain happy all the time along stretching a helping hand always when someone comes to you with a plea.

The best point of SurinderJi is that he is a total atheist – he believes in the power of now, as a friendly friction of thoughts always begets between us as we question him always about universe’s inexplicable questions and facts, he certainly has some pragmatic answers, though still we remain on different trajectory towards his thoughts, it is his thrilling persona which binds us all. 

His only mantra in life is to remain “Happy Always, be whatever” for which he himself construes it to be a tough call of living – “Situations will change every moment, but to tackle those situation is more of a state of mind, you will not be able to handle or change the situations if you become irate, angry or question God!, it has been bestowed on you and you have to live it !!!” 

Being from a business background, he has roams in the upper stratums of Delhi’s business circle and makes it a point to put his argument in a different perspective by giving examples of his friends who are entangled in the quagmire of false aspirations and expectations. “They have it all but still want more! And this mindset makes them unhappy and cribbing.”

They can’t eat their favorite food , if they eat sweets – they develop high sugar, if they have more of salt – they have high BP! 😊, they take sleeping pills as they have tension of family and business -  all of them have some form of ailment whether it is Diabetes or blood Pressure, though they have vanquished their competitors in business but he cost they have paid is certainly not worth it!”

Contemplating todays talk as we moved back home, Surinderji was telling us mundane living secrets which we probably all know but still befool ourselves and are running a blind rat race, to be defeated one day as someone somewhere would certainly outdone us, this is everyone’s life inevitability which would sooner or later take shape… till then what path you tread is just your calling… being happy surely is the only out … as Surinderji says as he sums up his talk….!!!

Have we failed God?

 Just the other day, I got the news of one of my friends losing his uncle at the ripe age of 92 – the guy was happy that he had a cordial relationship with his uncle and he was full of zest in life – till the very end he had a sweet tooth and he used to binge on street food and love his evening smoke, and that his children were settled and he had no qualms or any question which life had not answered.

He was a strict atheist, though he believed in the concept of supernatural or ‘A Great Policeman” – as he used this word quite frequently, who has created this universe to his own amusement and as a child’s play and that all the occurrences in the world are a ‘chance happenings’ that is beyond our control. 

These words of wisdom made him truly remarkable as a human being, no wonder he was a local hero – he used to sit with local shopkeepers and discuss things happening in country, the tumult of the society and of course the life which he has lived – it was his favorite topic. 

As we both were discussing the character uncle had, he was once asked about his regrets in life – to everyone’s amazement, he had just one regret – that he didn’t climb “Mt Everest!” – for a man who had served as a government employee for more than three decades and touched almost every nook or corner of India, it was the only place he wanted to see and cherish with his naked eye – logic being he always wanted to be at the ‘top of the world…’

Such zeal at this age is formidable and can’t be seen in today’s living gentry, the youth are confused and are money minded, no doubt, we have failed God and has made a mockery of his favorite gift to us called “Life”. Engrossed in our own falsifying achievements and mostly whimsy targets we have failed to live an enriching life… how many of us think that we would be as zestful as uncle at age of 92? Forget about hitting 70 as most know internally the changes which have gone through our bodies…. Befooling our own selves, we continue to live the way we live…

“We didn’t mourn uncle’s death but celebrated his departure – the way he left his mortal coil – just effortlessly in his deep sleep, no hospitalization, no back to back visits to doctor – he knew his departure was close and he told me that it is high time he should take leave from you.” , as my friend told me all this I contemplated my thoughts on this subject for surely I knew that Accomplished souls are never die in hospital but induce a self-proclaimed heart attack when they get a message from other realms that their time is up! – though to many this seems impossible to the general soul… it is happening… how many of you have seen yogi’s dying in hospitals???

As a one liner, uncle’s life message is short and sweet … “live your life with depth, with no regrets and no ifs and buts…you will feel universe will respond to your attitude… that is what is God’s will… you are not here for regrets and follies…but to pass the test of being human, noble, and lively….”

Surely my friend is missing this great soul and a friend of his, but what remains a true legacy is his thoughts and teachings… the late night ‘after-drink’ talks they did about life and living will always be in my friend’s conscience and he would certainly try to tread the path that his uncle showed him…

~ 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…

~ 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!” …