I firmly believe that Rickshawaalas are probably the most important individuals of any Indian city. Not because they are aware about the bits and pieces of every place or happening but more importantly, public locomotion rests on them.
“ ऐ रिक्शा ..ओ भैयाआ….”, I screamed at the top of my voice in order to capture the attention of a rickshaw waala, who was raptly paddling his tricycle along the lanes of Sector 36D in Chandigarh. Signalling with his left hand to hold at my place, he swiftly twirled his rickshaw in the direction where I stood. Hats off to his hearing skills! He distinctly figured out my voice in such traffic and turbulence. “जहापनाह तुस्सी great हो ”, I thought to myself, because, even while sitting in the front benches of my class, I rarely heard to what my teachers said. Unquestionably, this guy seemed blessed with an exceptional hearing art.
“कितना लोगे भैया , 35D की मार्किट तक जाना है ”, I asked him, with a questioning gesture. “जो आपको सही लगे जनाब, उतना दे दीजियेगा ”, he replied in a modest manner. In a city like Chandigarh, where you meet a multitude set of people with altogether different backgrounds, cultures and diversified intellects; the other name for ‘life’ seems nothing more than a ‘negotiation’. From money, time to relationships everything seems to be ‘negotiated’. Indeed, he was the first one who seemed away from this usual trend of bargaining with life. “चलो भैया , थोडा जल्दी चलना ”, I replied in compliance. Rickshawaalas are the Indian Wikipedia. For one question you ask, they have hundreds of ready-made verdicts and answers. Probably, they are the ones who witness life so very closely that they are ought to frame their judgements from the otherwise undiscovered possibilities of life. “कहाँ से हो भैया ”, I asked him in a prompt and inquisitive manner.
“पटना से हूँ जनाब ”, he replied instantly, with a delightful smile on his face.
Paddling speedily through the busy lanes of Fragrance garden, he seemed an expert in handling his tricycle. “चंडीगढ़ में कब से हो ”, I asked him, as he smoothly curved the rickshaw across the 35-36 junction. “पाँच साल हो गया है जनाब ”, he replied avidly, setting his light coloured muffler onto his shoulders with his right hand and carefully handling the vehicle with his left.
“काफी वक़्त से हो यहाँ पर ..”, I remarked.
“वक़्त तो काफी हो गया है…… जनाब बस जीने की कोशिश है…… थोडा बहुत जितना भी बनता है उसी से गुज़ारा है…. ”, he said with intense reverberation in his voice.
For most of us life is just too simple to live, for few it is a dream that is unseen and unexplored, for some it is merely a burden full of distress and disappointments but for many like him, it is no less than a challenge - a real challenge for keeping his subsistence alive. Sometimes small little words by someone can make your heart so heavy with emotions that it becomes merely impossible for you to explain it in words itself. His words made me think, his words made me feel his spirit, his words made me witness his zeal to sustain his own self and his family, his words made me understand what life really is but …..I had no words to say.……At times unknown emotions sensitize you beyond your sensitivity, and it is then you feel the other person with completeness.
The underlying fact is that most of us shirk from our responsibilities. Despite having apt resources, we always criticize life for everything. Our selfish motives overweigh the essence of being humane. Let us become respectable in our own eyes first. Let us become truthful to our ownselves. Every morning when we see our face in mirror, we should be able to match up with our own eyes and confront ourselves with firmness and say –“ Yes, I am worthy of this life and I can, I will”
Let us create life in every moment !!!
AKSHAY THAKUR
Himachal Pradesh
