Street kids!

On my way to the gym (before you say it, YES I have been going regularly, what my weight is now and what it was when I joined is beyond the point!! :-) ) I stop at this one traffic signal. And like most traffic signals, I usually find it RED. Now this one day, a kid was selling pens there. A Fancy CHINESE Pen with a torch on top. I thought that the kid could use the money, so bought one. Now the very next day, the same RED traffic signal and the same kid : “Bhaiya, pen le lo, bhaiya.” I informed him of my purchase the previous day and told him that I wouldn’t buy one everyday. Once again the very next day, the same RED traffic signal and the same kid: “Bhaiya aapne bola tha roz nahin loge, kal nahn liya, to aaj le lo.” Grinning ear-to-ear, I kept thinking of a smart reply, but eventually gave up, shelled out another 10 bucks and left with another fancy orange-coloured Chinese-made pen. The pens do work, but I am still amazed by the street-smart kid!

If ever I see a kid on the street begging for money, I preferably make him do some work: “Clean my car and you earn yourself 5 bucks.” Even if he makes it dirtier than before, it doesn’t matter. The point is that the kid learnt that money does not come for free; he needs to work for it. The law of OUR country does not permit kids under 18 to work; it’s a crime. I beg to differ! If these kids, most of whom are homeless and don’t have the money to buy, let alone education, even food or clothes, are to be on their own without the basic necessities of life, I would not be surprised to find them in jails, sooner than later. And even if we don’t employ them, who will pay for their food, clothes and of course, their education? The government surely cannot afford it. Is it not better for them to work and earn their own living, rather than turning into criminals or beggars? Is it not better than they learn the value of money the harder way rather than being pampered by somebody who’s basically and actually a nobody?

Water? Water, everywhere?

The Chronicles of SardarMan -

In the peak of the summer season, it is not uncommon for any part of the country to experience water shortage. Now just the other day, my mom was in the loo, when water got over. Thanks to the miracle-invention of the century, mobile phone, she could get in touch with the watchman to get the motor on. What should have taken less than 10 mins ended up in a full fledged water fight (read war) lasting days!!

Enter Sardarman. A menace. Lives in the building, on the ground floor, has a hobby of watering barren land, any piece of barren land that he can lay his eyes and water hose on. In the parking lot, he has made his office, and in half of the building complex he has made courtyards; courtyards, which can only be called encroachments. So anyway, that fateful day the Sardarman, with the Sardarwoman as his accomplice, washed every part of the courtyard and watered all accessible barren lands. What’s worse, they had blocked the water connection for the rest of the building. And when the watchman requested them to defer their washing plans for an hour, he was greeted with nasty abuses. The menacing duo then, in retaliation, turned all the taps on and left the building. Just to prove their point, whatever that was.

War had thus been declared. The guns and tanks, loaded with all sorts of household crap, were fired. As the policeman much later pointed out to the duo, its nature’s law (also called gravity in scientific jargon) that anything and everything will fall down. The much adorned, endlessly beautified courtyard would need another round of washing. The advent of the policeman did nothing but appease the duo.

Now the climax! A few days later, we were just leaving for the airport, to drop off my sister. And we see HIM, running frantically towards us, hands drawn out in front of him, motioning for us to stop. We glanced at the watch: 4.30 AM. In the middle of the night, he wanted to fight about what had happened the other day. Would not listen to anything we have to say, even the probability of missing the flight didn’t convince him. Only when another call was made to the helping-helpline 100, did he back-off and let us leave. But we couldn’t even relish the cake. No prizes for guessing who we ran into at the gate, awaiting our return!

Tanha...

Unlike my other posts, this one has the lyrics of a song. I don’t think or expect many people to have heard it. It used to come on TV LOONG back, and I somehow, just remembered the song today. Its a beautiful song, slightly dense though. Read on…

dekhiye to lagta hai,
zindagi ki raahon mein,
ek bheed chalti hai.
sochiye to lagta hai,
bheed mein hain sab tanha.
jitne bhi yeh rishte hain,
kaanch ke khilone hain,
pal mein toot sakte hain.
ek pal mein ho jaaye,
koi jaane kab tanha.

dekhiye to lagta hai,
jaise yeh jo duniya hai,
kitni rangeen mehfil hai,
sochiye to lagta hai,
kitna gam hai duniya mein,
kitna zakhmi har dil hai.
woh jo muskuraate the,
jo kisi ko khwaabon mein,
apne pass paate the,
unki neend tooti hai,
aur hain woh ab tanha.

dekhiye toh lagta hai,
zindagi ki raahon mein,
ek bheed chalti hai.
sochiye toh lagta hai,
bheed mein hain sab tanha.