Sweet Tooth and Hard Dreams

-


It was late morning when coming from the client's office on Fergusson college road, I came across a kid in tattered clothes raising a hand for lift...! Now, as a practice, I generally don't give lifts on the bike due to the urgency of work, but that day I stopped a few meters ahead from where the kid was asking for a lift.

I called for him, and he rushed towards the bike me even asking where he wanted to go, he hopped on the rear seat and ordered me to go ahead, I was a bit surprised for generally lift seekers are meek fellows they bestow pleas and thank yous so often..  but this kid was different he immediately ordered me to go ahead. Still, I said, I was going near Shaniwar Wada, if he doesn't have an issue I can drop him there. He said ok, still, I asked him where was his ultimate destination, any school or home on the route I would have been happy to drop him off.

He said no, it's ok, just drop me at Wada, I will manage from there..!

So, Feeling like Dhanno in Sholay, I did drive him to Wada, all the while on the road he was very cheerfully calling out, old people.. O Kaka, O Mama, all the while he kept shifting in a rear seat, I was a little afraid, lest I might lose balance and we both fall down.. anyhow we reached the backside of Wada.  When we reached, I was about to shout at him for his behavior, when with a faint smile he said it was his birthday...!

So, I thought the client can spare a few minutes for celebrating this boy's birthday since there wasn't a cake shop around all we could find decent was a dosa vehicle and a tea shop, and on seeing the tea shop the marketer in me cried out, "tea",  "tea",  "tea", and we decided to celebrate his birthday with a Masala Dosa and Hot Tea. When we sat down a munched a few morsels of dosa, I enquired about his parents and about the way he was dressed...!!

This is all he told me;

He came from a northern state, with his parents who worked on construction sites as laborers..., only two years after arriving in Pune's his father fell down the slab he was constructing in Balewadi...

https://www.asianage.com/mumbai/9-dead-slab-illegal-floor-collapses-pune-865

I was working at that time for a residential project in west Pune, and this really brought me close to the kid, in a way I thought rapid growth was responsible for making this child orphan...! So I asked did he not have his mother with him, so like the most mature person I ever met, he replied he sent his mother home and now he is taking care of her...! I was awestruck very few people impress me...this small kid was already taking on the world...So my next was, what he does, to support himself and his mother...he replied he sold Sugar Cotton Candies, ....!! I was jaw-dropped I admired his resilience in face of adversity, his determination, and when I asked him what he wanted to do when he grew up, he said he wanted to be a civil engineer so that he can build better slabs so no one ever will be orphan...!!

I was overwhelmed with his dream, and the spirit of goodness, that day I learned, I am yet to learn a lot about dreams, and the way they are dreamed. 

This little teacher of mine, who when finishing his Dosa and giving me the best of the smile I ever received hopped on the small pickup truck who were ferrying some passengers and he ordered them to go...

This kid, whose name with my foolishness I forgot to ask, was on a mission...As his truck vanish on the curve, it left me overwhelmed and helpless at the same time...So much this kid has seen at this tender age, so much was his courage that even the mightiest fall in front of adversities...!!

This is a true story, it happened to me on the 21st of Feb, 2022 This date I will remember always taught me, something I was thinking I knew already, but I am thankful for that kid for sharing with me his story...

and if he reads this story somewhere in the future, I respectfully ask him to call and reach out to me at 

8149205054

Sharad

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Icarus's Lament

-
Image
To go after what one desires the most, often tears the salty eyes. This lament which Icarus sings brings forth his waxen wings. Refrain then from passions desired great, prey emotions to predatory fate.       The Poem     Icarus's Lament   Modesty is the bane of gentlemen, lesser are concessions and judged the actions Let not tender affections deepen, in prickly thorns of persuasion.                                                                                   What mortal's not to do but feel                                                                                 and to guillotine his character seal                                                                                 and when the eyes of the crowd judge and scorn                                                                                 broken is the heart and into pieces torn   oh..! how good, better and best are wastrels in debauchery and cunningness, they revel to the crowd, they mock and take wha
Read more

The Underdog Part 12; The Escape

-
Image
    The plan was superb, it was indeed easy just to run away from the compound, but years of being caged behind strong bars, convinced these dogs that there was nothing they could do. Browny was more determined when some dogs who previously hesitated and were reluctant, joined the plan it was decided. A few days went by, and the conditions of cages began to deteriorate, the disinfectant smell now long gone, was taken over by the overwhelming stench. For older dogs, this was usual relief, they learned to accommodate this stench, the dogs who had lost olfactory senses were as unaware as the smell of disinfectant. Nothing was good about this hellish place. Soon, the day arrived, it was just like a normal day, the people came in with disinfectants, cleaned the cages, uncollared the dogs, washed them, and fed them good food. The dogs were ready... The vehicle of the city people arrived at the gates of the compound and as the gates were opened, there was only a single bark, "Bhow",
Read more

First post

-
Image
  Chirping her way in, the little sparrow made the grand entry in the nest, the nest its all but ugly, made comfortable by lining the floor with softest of feathers and cotton and bits of fabric collected over an endless number of flights, well, that was just the bedding. How about the walls then, fine twigs from the softest and tender grass were collected, sorted, and carefully weaved one by one, creating a small shallow and eventually finishing it with another smoothest upholstery of feathers and cotton. Such is the nest of our common sparrow. Perched high on the branches of a fig tree, this sparrow has made her third brooding nest. This she does without exhaustion, it’s the natural urge to pass on the genes and with it the experience of this little life. Insignificant, not even close.   It was raining and summer was just heating up, the sun was too tired of being cold, and was getting hot, for it too, doesn’t like the cold weather. There up in the neem tree, amongst three
Read more