Char Adhyay

Ek

Every Sunday morning I pick up my two cloth bags to go for my weekly shopping close to my house. Round the corner is a temple and outside the temple sits an old man with a few vegetables and, at times, some seasonal fruits. Often the man seems to be asleep in a sitting posture and at other times reading a thick book with his head slightly bent down. One thing that is very discernible about the man’s look is the soft and gentle smile that never seems to fade away. But even more surprising about the man is the number of strays that surround him at all times. They relax on the road when the old man is sitting and, when he gets up to walk, they all follow him quietly. All the dogs also have collars round their necks. 

I have never bought anything from him, don’t ask me why. It is just that I am so used to my regular fruit and vegetable vendors that I just don’t change people for no rhyme or reason. I was fascinated seeing this man during the peak Corona times sitting with no buyers around. I felt that I should do something to help him and offered him some money so that he could buy some food for the dogs whom he seemed to care for so much.

No, I cannot take money for them…he said pointing at the sleeping dogs….I can feed them.

I was taken aback. Why would someone refuse help in such difficult times? Was the man’s love and affection for the lonely and uncared stray animals so deep? What drives him to such devotion? Many  unanswered questions for sure. Nowadays, I just walk past him and both of us just smile at each other.

Do

The habit of reaching office early is something that I imbibed in my first year of employment in trying to please a tough boss whom I wanted to beat to work and impress him with my show of sincerity. It didn’t work much on him but this habit has held me in good stead over the next three decades, so have continued with it ever since. In less than a kilometer from my home is a traffic junction popularly known as Ratna Chowk named after the Udupi restaurant situated there. Early morning the traffic congestion is not much and motorists often break the signal and drive away knowing there is no one to fine them at that hour. The evenings are frightfully crowded and noisy. Usually, I slow down the vehicle when the signal is red, take a quick glace around to see if there is any traffic policeman around. On most days there are none, so I drive away like most other motorists before the light turns green. Even on days when I stop and wait for the right light, the people behind me start honking and the auto rickshaw fellows even shout expletives….C***** hai kya?

It is here at Ratna Chowk that you cannot miss the sight of an old man with beard and a hat, standing at times with a baton and at other times a flash light in his hand. This man is there throughout the day controlling the traffic. He even uses a whistle to make himself heard and is constantly seen moving his hands and head in all directions, catching the attention of the drivers as well as the pedestrians who, too, need to be controlled. I wonder why the old man stands daily on the road in the midst of so much noise and air pollution and tries to manage the most indisciplined crowd of motorists, most of whom want to drive away in the red. Surely, he does not get any remuneration for the work he does. It is doubtful whether the Mumbai Traffic Police even recognizes his immense contribution. Thanks to his efforts, the traffic moves but I wonder how his world moves!

Teen

Driving back from office on the crammed Western Express Highway is never a pleasant experience. It is perpetually bumper to bumper traffic, people cutting lanes, vehicles getting stalled and at times pile up happening when suddenly there is an opportunity to drive fast on a flyover. There is not a moment of happiness on the road. Added to it is the radio….you listen to one song and then the radio jockey talks unendingly and the advertisements go on and on….in short you have unlimited options of cribbing.

But during this ride, there is a stretch between the Hub and the Oberoi Malls where you will find some men trying to sell groundnuts wrapped in paper. These men have multiple packets in their hands and, in the slow moving traffic, they are able to sell the stuff to the stranded motorists who get time to choose, buy, pay for it, take the change from the men and then drive away munching. At times, you will find the men running behind the cars just to take the money or return the change. Among the men trying to sell are a few who are walking and running bare foot. When you see  such a sight in the twenty first year of the twenty first century, you press the brake pedals of your car for once……. your Hush Puppies give a screech of sadness.

When we were young, the sight of Imelda Marcos with her infamous collection of shoes was something we felt was so criminal in a country with so much poverty. Today, I am sure there will be innumerable Imeldas in every housing society of this Maximum City and, yet, there is such a stark contrast in what we see and drive away. Can these men not afford a pair of footwear? Selling packets of groundnuts of Rs 10 each would hardly leave the men with anything more than a meal a day. Everyday people in Jaguars and BMWs drive down the road burning the rubber while these young men burn their soles.

Char

There is an NGO near my house which works for the education of street children. Having been associated with the organization for quite some time, some of us old timers met recently. The pandemic had wreaked havoc on the education of the children whose schools are shut for almost a year now. They do not have gadgets to do online classes and neither are the municipal school teachers equipped to teach them.  The NGO used to employ some teachers and along with a volunteer force was able to give the required educational support to the kids that they could not have managed in their homes where parents themselves have little or no educational background of their own. For the last ten months, the NGO is unable to call the students for their daily special classes since social distancing and safety norms have to be maintained. Not just the classes but the kids have also lost out on another thing…one good nutritious meal they would get everyday. This was one major attraction for them to not miss a day’s class. Today, all seems to be lost. The children have not just missed their regular school and extra classes but a huge gap has been created in their education path which will possibly never ever be filled.

While talking to the main organisers, I came to know that some good Samaritans have been donating food packages off and on. The NGO had run out of funds to pay to the teachers and with no classes happening there was no need to keep them on the rolls any longer. The bigger worry is about ten of their meritorious children who had been enrolled into better private schools in an effort to give them quality education. The NGO still has to arrange for the school fees for these children every month and it is quite a sum to be paid. If the payments are not made, the children will be asked to leave the school and may have had to go back to the municipal schools.

At work, whosoever I speak to, has their children studying in Australia, USA or UK and here we have a paradox of a situation where basic education is getting denied to a huge mass of children. Who cares?

Goal Setting

Being the first month of a new year, we generally make resolutions. But I shall not make resolutions to break. I will make what HR in every organization calls Goal Setting…SMART Goals…Goals that at Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely. More often than not these goals are made in the corporate circles but appraisals are at the mercy of the Big Bull, not one that runs amok at the Sensex but the one with a small hump. Small because there can only be a handful on the top of the curve and the rest are told why they are not fit for promotions and better incentives. The goals that I want to make are life goals based on these encounters of life. So here are my Goals for 2021:

Vision: To be a Better Me.

Actionable Goals:

a.       Love someone without expecting anything in return just like the old man and his dogs.

b.      Never miss a red light on the road no matter whether the traffic is heavy or not, whether some cop is there to fine or not….be a good law abiding citizen. Respect the man at Ratna Chowk.

c.       Give a pair of slippers or sandals to four people during the year. One per quarter and my Hush Puppies shall surely smile.

d.      Take up the cost of one student for the year. If some of us can do, “each one, teach one,” we will leave behind a better educated generation.

Wish me luck and join me to set some life goals of your own. Together we can surely make a better world.

SS