other side of life.....
A real life experience always gives a haunting and scary gaze on practical life..the following episode is from my interaction with a person who happened to be our bus cleaner during the educational trip.
our educational tour to Rajasthan started on 26 Dec 2011 and continued till 8 jan 2012.
We reached Jaipur by Marudar Exp. at 12 noon. Reached the place where the bus was parked. I was at the tale end of the line of students checking that none is missed. while students loaded their luggage with the helper, driver came and introduced himself. meanwhile my attention fell on the bus cleaner who was loading the luggage.
we covered Jaipur, Ajmer, Pushkar, Udaipur, Chiitor, and reached Mt. Abu. since two students were not well I was in the bus taking care of them, and other students were in Dilwara Temple.
At this time, the cleaner came to my cabin and asked me what time we will move from Mt. Abu to Jodhpur. Though my answer was verbal, my eyes were on the cleaner.
Height appro. 5.5 feet. weight may be 35 k.g. Black complexion, dusty hair and dirty clothes. (The same clothes were wearing from day one). a masculine face, but very skinny. a small bent in back. no cheeks or no flesh at all. stained teeth. A single glance will say that he is suffering from malnutrition. I just asked has he had food. He said he had tea twice and will have food in the night with ustaad (Driver).
I asked him about his personal details. Without any shy he started saying about his life.
what i understood from his strong marwadi language is really amazing and shocking too.
He belong to a small village in Nathdwara. A 5th class educated and school dropout. married at the age of 14 years. Though he maried at an early age only lived with wife for 3 years. (Child marriages are common in this part of the state) wife died due to excess bleeding (as he said)v just an year back. he worked in a small bakery in Mumbai for 3 months. He left the job, once he became badly sick. Came back and joined a Gutka factory (Mirage)in Udaipur. used to work for almost 12 hours a day without any break (other than 3o mns lunch). there was some dispute between the owner of the factory and him and he was terminated from the job (if I am right). he joined as a cleaner two days back to learn driving (Heavy vehicle).
what he earns is 50 bucks a day.
he takes a cup of tea with a 5 rs bhujia pack, skips lunch and takes some rotis and some subzi other than 2 packets of gutka. then he showed his voter id card as a proof. his date of birth was mentioned as xx/xx/1989. he also doesnt know which day and month he has born. he has three brothers and all are working in small firms and meeting their daily needs. he smilingly said. "I dont think of tomorrow. if i get something today I spent it for the day"
I was silent for few seconds. my mind was quickly going through the days passed in the bus and how badly the driver was shouting at him at many times/ he eagerly wait outside when we all take food/snacks tea during breaks, etc. (unless the dhaba owner offer free food to the driver and cleaner)/ eagerness to see students singing, dancing, sharing joyful times in tour.
Many of students are elder to him/of the same age. They are from blessed families as they most of them don't even know what is hunger all about ! Regret to say that even I ignore poor faces many occasions.
I checked my watch.students are yet to come. I offered him some money to have something and come back. but he denied to take it from me. (he was afraid of Ustaad). I forced him to get something and come back in time. He gave me a beautiful smile (sincere and innocent) back.
later I narrated what i heard from the cleaner to some of my students. and in my surprise and the good thing is they started taking care of him from the next day whether it is at the time of breakfast/dinner wherever he is with us.
(Couldn't express the way I want to express, and apologies if it bores your time)
our educational tour to Rajasthan started on 26 Dec 2011 and continued till 8 jan 2012.
We reached Jaipur by Marudar Exp. at 12 noon. Reached the place where the bus was parked. I was at the tale end of the line of students checking that none is missed. while students loaded their luggage with the helper, driver came and introduced himself. meanwhile my attention fell on the bus cleaner who was loading the luggage.
we covered Jaipur, Ajmer, Pushkar, Udaipur, Chiitor, and reached Mt. Abu. since two students were not well I was in the bus taking care of them, and other students were in Dilwara Temple.
At this time, the cleaner came to my cabin and asked me what time we will move from Mt. Abu to Jodhpur. Though my answer was verbal, my eyes were on the cleaner.
Height appro. 5.5 feet. weight may be 35 k.g. Black complexion, dusty hair and dirty clothes. (The same clothes were wearing from day one). a masculine face, but very skinny. a small bent in back. no cheeks or no flesh at all. stained teeth. A single glance will say that he is suffering from malnutrition. I just asked has he had food. He said he had tea twice and will have food in the night with ustaad (Driver).
I asked him about his personal details. Without any shy he started saying about his life.
what i understood from his strong marwadi language is really amazing and shocking too.
He belong to a small village in Nathdwara. A 5th class educated and school dropout. married at the age of 14 years. Though he maried at an early age only lived with wife for 3 years. (Child marriages are common in this part of the state) wife died due to excess bleeding (as he said)v just an year back. he worked in a small bakery in Mumbai for 3 months. He left the job, once he became badly sick. Came back and joined a Gutka factory (Mirage)in Udaipur. used to work for almost 12 hours a day without any break (other than 3o mns lunch). there was some dispute between the owner of the factory and him and he was terminated from the job (if I am right). he joined as a cleaner two days back to learn driving (Heavy vehicle).
what he earns is 50 bucks a day.
he takes a cup of tea with a 5 rs bhujia pack, skips lunch and takes some rotis and some subzi other than 2 packets of gutka. then he showed his voter id card as a proof. his date of birth was mentioned as xx/xx/1989. he also doesnt know which day and month he has born. he has three brothers and all are working in small firms and meeting their daily needs. he smilingly said. "I dont think of tomorrow. if i get something today I spent it for the day"
I was silent for few seconds. my mind was quickly going through the days passed in the bus and how badly the driver was shouting at him at many times/ he eagerly wait outside when we all take food/snacks tea during breaks, etc. (unless the dhaba owner offer free food to the driver and cleaner)/ eagerness to see students singing, dancing, sharing joyful times in tour.
Many of students are elder to him/of the same age. They are from blessed families as they most of them don't even know what is hunger all about ! Regret to say that even I ignore poor faces many occasions.
I checked my watch.students are yet to come. I offered him some money to have something and come back. but he denied to take it from me. (he was afraid of Ustaad). I forced him to get something and come back in time. He gave me a beautiful smile (sincere and innocent) back.
(Couldn't express the way I want to express, and apologies if it bores your time)