It's been a long time since I wrote. Rather, since I blogged. (remember I write for a living as well). What have I been doing all these days? I wish I knew the correct answer. I wish someone with a chirpy voice like the voice-over artist who tapes for the courses I design comes and tells me "That's correct. Click Next to Continue."
I wish there was a "next" button to scroll through life. But I would also like a "previous" button to go back and relive the fond memories. The complexities of this simple life amaze me !
It was late in the evening, an evening which followed a day which came and went by without registering much in my memory. And there were no signs of the evening becoming memorable either. The maddening traffic which seems to move one inch a time ( that might be an understatement but not an exaggeration) only aggravated my melancholy. Suddenly, my phone rang.......an unknown caller
had decided to wake me from reverie, That helps to break the Auto-Pilot mode of riding which I have gotten used to.
Caller: "arrrrrey Pandey ji, where are you?"
Pandey *#@%.............which pandey ji?
I have been receiving calls from people asking for everyone from plumber, to army recruitment secretary, to the laundry guy,...........the list is endless and the variety unmatched.
Me: "there's no pandey ji over here"
Caller: " arrrrey pandey ji, you didn't recognise me .....I am mishra, your panwallah"
So this call turned out to be from a shopkeeper who used to sell cigarettes to me and would never call me by my name......I have no idea how and when I become pandey ji...........but the name stuck.
But why would he call me? I had stopped going to his shop, the last time I went to his shop was four months ago and I had never been his regular customer. Somehow, with rattled nerves, I managed to say "Yes" when he asked me to come over to his shop. As expected, it turned out that he wanted some loan. Loan .,,,,,,,,,,okay I will dish the meagre amount I can manage..... But that wasn't all....................like all pan wallahs....... Mishra is big-mouthed and shrude. He will talk endlessly, he seems to have an opinion about everything under the sun. I was thinking on these lines, not really hearing what he was saying.....then it struck me
"Most of us have opinions about everything."
A few drags and endless blah blah blah.....annoying my ears........he too started his story of woes.........and I was fast running out of patience,.........then I saw someone tugging at my pants...........there was this young chap of hardly eight years, dressed in rags ..............
I don't like offering alms..........for I myself need alms of a different sort, which I can't ask from anyone at all.
But I was impressed with the refreshing smile on his face despite his hardships......he offered his hand for a handshake ........and to my sweet surprise Akshay (he told me his name while shaking hands) managed to do a few handshake tricks which seemed so funky !!
Akshay begs next to this small shop, all day........and I should say he earns his family of four 20 rupees a day, At an age where he should be playing with friends, the passersby play with him and his emotions.......with lewd remarks , endless thrashings and coin tossed arrogantly if it manages to come out of their Lewi's pockets at all.................Akshay impressed me, with the brightest eyes I have ever seen and a smile that won't leave his lips, no matter what comes.........he is sheer pleasure to talk to. Akshay was hungry and a dose of generosity won't have harmed me. So, I got him a cup of hot coffee.......it was a chilly night....and a omelette toast....He ate with delight but not the way the beggars are depicted eating in bollywood flicks........We talked for a few minutes before a man came up and spanked him hard on the back.......Okay, so this must be his father.......dressed in decent clothes with a obnoxious smell of hooch painted all over........he was spanking Akshay so that he parts with his day's earnings...So that was the end of it..........Akshay had to leave ........and the smile on his lips had turned into tears rolling down his cheeks......I came back home..........and that night I had a reason to think........I thought about Akshay. I thought about helping him somehow............but I know I can't do much........not because I don't want .......but because circumstances won't let anyone outside his family help him......
Thanks Akshay................... You made me a human again .............
I go everyday to that shop now................and I bear the garrulous Mishra.....because when Akshay comes with a smile on his lips................my spirits soar.....and I feel alive again.....
Thanks Akshay, you made my day, everyday in the last fortnight.
I wish there was a "next" button to scroll through life. But I would also like a "previous" button to go back and relive the fond memories. The complexities of this simple life amaze me !
It was late in the evening, an evening which followed a day which came and went by without registering much in my memory. And there were no signs of the evening becoming memorable either. The maddening traffic which seems to move one inch a time ( that might be an understatement but not an exaggeration) only aggravated my melancholy. Suddenly, my phone rang.......an unknown caller
had decided to wake me from reverie, That helps to break the Auto-Pilot mode of riding which I have gotten used to.
Caller: "arrrrrey Pandey ji, where are you?"
Pandey *#@%.............which pandey ji?
I have been receiving calls from people asking for everyone from plumber, to army recruitment secretary, to the laundry guy,...........the list is endless and the variety unmatched.
Me: "there's no pandey ji over here"
Caller: " arrrrey pandey ji, you didn't recognise me .....I am mishra, your panwallah"
So this call turned out to be from a shopkeeper who used to sell cigarettes to me and would never call me by my name......I have no idea how and when I become pandey ji...........but the name stuck.
But why would he call me? I had stopped going to his shop, the last time I went to his shop was four months ago and I had never been his regular customer. Somehow, with rattled nerves, I managed to say "Yes" when he asked me to come over to his shop. As expected, it turned out that he wanted some loan. Loan .,,,,,,,,,,okay I will dish the meagre amount I can manage..... But that wasn't all....................like all pan wallahs....... Mishra is big-mouthed and shrude. He will talk endlessly, he seems to have an opinion about everything under the sun. I was thinking on these lines, not really hearing what he was saying.....then it struck me
"Most of us have opinions about everything."
A few drags and endless blah blah blah.....annoying my ears........he too started his story of woes.........and I was fast running out of patience,.........then I saw someone tugging at my pants...........there was this young chap of hardly eight years, dressed in rags ..............
I don't like offering alms..........for I myself need alms of a different sort, which I can't ask from anyone at all.
But I was impressed with the refreshing smile on his face despite his hardships......he offered his hand for a handshake ........and to my sweet surprise Akshay (he told me his name while shaking hands) managed to do a few handshake tricks which seemed so funky !!
Akshay begs next to this small shop, all day........and I should say he earns his family of four 20 rupees a day, At an age where he should be playing with friends, the passersby play with him and his emotions.......with lewd remarks , endless thrashings and coin tossed arrogantly if it manages to come out of their Lewi's pockets at all.................Akshay impressed me, with the brightest eyes I have ever seen and a smile that won't leave his lips, no matter what comes.........he is sheer pleasure to talk to. Akshay was hungry and a dose of generosity won't have harmed me. So, I got him a cup of hot coffee.......it was a chilly night....and a omelette toast....He ate with delight but not the way the beggars are depicted eating in bollywood flicks........We talked for a few minutes before a man came up and spanked him hard on the back.......Okay, so this must be his father.......dressed in decent clothes with a obnoxious smell of hooch painted all over........he was spanking Akshay so that he parts with his day's earnings...So that was the end of it..........Akshay had to leave ........and the smile on his lips had turned into tears rolling down his cheeks......I came back home..........and that night I had a reason to think........I thought about Akshay. I thought about helping him somehow............but I know I can't do much........not because I don't want .......but because circumstances won't let anyone outside his family help him......
Thanks Akshay................... You made me a human again .............
I go everyday to that shop now................and I bear the garrulous Mishra.....because when Akshay comes with a smile on his lips................my spirits soar.....and I feel alive again.....
Thanks Akshay, you made my day, everyday in the last fortnight.
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