Two experiences
Scene 1
I was sitting in an auto-rickshaw and looking anxiously at my mobile phone - that’s how I keep track of time in case of urgency. I had eaten nothing but 2 slices of bread since morning. In evening rush hour time when traffic doesn’t moves but crawls, it was not a pleasant thing to remember. So I did what Birbal had done to make already drawn line smaller without modifying it. I reminded myself of nail-biting finish of the release milestone, which made me slog the whole day in the office.
The tragedy of a software engineer is that he gets life in parts only. It is the period between reaching a release milestone and finalizing the next release plan. So by definition, my share of life has been given to me the moment I steeped out from the office today. What a way to start! Having realized that traffic was going to win over me, I promised thirty rupee bonus to the auto-rickshaw driver, if he steers through the traffic and drops me on time. You might think of irony, when you know that, this thirty rupee was the same amount for which I had bargained hard with the same driver when we started. The driver grabbed this opportunity, and I finally reached platform number 12 of Old Delhi Railway Station to find my train waiting for me.
At that moment, I was thinking of nothing else but having some food so I quickly bought a plate of puri-sabji. While I was eating, I noticed something. A boy came to a nearby person, who was also eating puri-subji. The boy made a gesture of being hungry, and begged for some money. The person asked him to go away, but the boy kept persisting. At railway platforms, this is a very usual scene. But I saw something unusual happening at that day. The person was seemingly annoyed and in frustration he gave his plate to the boy and went away. Whatever was remaining in the plate, the boy started eating it. I was stunned. With unfinished plate in my hand, I could not really think for a moment what to do. For better or worse, the train signaled it was ready to leave and I quickly moved towards my coach, though, I did finish my plate. The impact was strong enough to give me goose bumps for some time to come, before it was buried under debris of bug-fixes, life-sucks conversations, breaking news and weekend movies.
Scene 2
I am waiting for green light at the traffic stop between sector-37 and Kalindi Kunj. Traffic planning of Noida is truly socialist in its ideals. There are so many four-way crossings and hence traffic stops, that you can easily find the same rickshaw puller catching up with your car, whom you crossed at previous traffic stop. The time counter at the traffic stop is displaying 110 seconds remaining. A boy comes and starts cleaning windscreen of my car. I tell him that I am not going to give him any money so better don’t do the cleaning. After listening to this he stops cleaning and pushes himself back.
In many ways, this experience is going to be in complete contrast with what I had almost two years back at the railway platform. That day I felt sad, today I will feel happy. That day I was thinking of despair, today I will think of hope. It was that day, when I had realized that situation of poverty is even worse than I used to think.
We normally hear that people are starving and government is doing nothing to stop that. Yes people are starving, but they are not just sitting idle and waiting for someone to help before they eventually die. They are clinging to every possible means of survival, even if it falls below human dignity. That’s how I felt, when I saw that boy eating the leftover food so religiously. I was worried if things continued the way they were, what next stage of in-human conditions we would have to witness in the future.
But today I will witness a different sight. It will also make me realize that it’s not the government nor the self-proclaimed good-doers, but ordinary people who will galvanize the battle against human suffering. The change is happening continuously. It is we, who have turned our back to reality and stopped noticing it. Not only we have become dependent on mass media and experts for the facts; but we have also become dependent on them for our feelings and emotions. They tell us to feel happy, when they tell us something great has been achieved. They tell us to feel sad, when they tell us some great tragedy has happened. We don’t see, feel or think anything on our own
The time counter at traffic signal was busy in countdown, and it is reaching zero now. Traffic light turns green, and it’s time to move. It seems the boy too was waiting for the green light, as only now he comes near to me and says his wish for me. Cars behind me are busy in showcasing that they are fitted with horns and their drivers are in a tearing hurry to go. I oblige, and move forward. But I do look back and when I see what is in the eyes of the boy, all doubts are removed. He couldn’t have said anything else, but only this –
Aaj too jaroor ladega (you will surely meet with an accident today).
