On one of my fortnightly travels to Mumbai, I was approached by a young guy as I was about to enter the terminal. He was a sorry looking bloke, and it seemed that the weight of the entire world was on his puny shoulders. And as his story came out, i realised why.
You see, what happened was that he had come to Delhi from a small village near Patna. Some friend of a friend of a friend had promised him a job and had asked him to meet a guy outside the airport. He met a guy answering to the description given, who assured him that there was an agent who will place him, in return of a fee of 1500 bucks. You can guess the rest right? He had 1200 on him, the guy magnanimously waived off 300 bucks, asked him to wait right there while he got his scooter..and never came back. So, for the last 3 hours, he was reduced to begging for whatever he can manage, to at least purchase a train ticket to go back to his family.
What can I say? I told him Delhi is full of cheats. I advised him to be more careful in the future. I admonished him for chasing wild dreams, leaving everything for a fools errand. I paid him 300 bucks.
Tears of gratitude flooded his eyes. His trembling hands retrieved a dog eared notebook from his tattered pockets. He made me write my address down so he can send the money back. I gruffly told him, with a lump in throat, that it wont be necessary. But he would have none of it. His parting words made me feel good about myself..here was someone who has finally realised what a wonderful human being I am.
It says that lightning never strikes the same place twice. I found out that its not true for some poor bastards. When I came back from a Mumbai a couple of days back, who do i find standing outside? You are right, it was the same guy! And he came up to me and told me the same story. I listened with rapt attention, wondering the courage it must take to be able to take such misfortune, that too twice, and still be able to fight back and try to survive. While I was taking out my wallet, I saw him taking out his notebook, and told him not to bother, reminding him that I had already jotted down my address a couple of days back.
I dont know why he ran away!! I would have paid him again.
Nov 16, 2006
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12 comments:
...and i thought 'gandhigiri' died with gandhiji in 1948!
so you give away money for any third graded story right? well, i have lots of them. we will meet someday.
if it's not a figment of your imagination, you are a good human being. keep the spirit up. when people like you cease to exist, the earth will refuse to rotate, i tell you.
vivek: thanks dost. daaru pila.
rip/ghetu: not a figment of my imagination. u think he was lying?
hey. i missed the concert man :( wish i had more funds so i could again go to aust.. but with all my travels planned this year (btw i am going to calcutta for the first time) it was fiscally impossible...
First the honey incident and now this? Apu, you are mellowing!! Remember the crank calls that Raka and I used to make pretending to be some girl you were seeing?? You caught us everytime!! May be asking for money is the key. Next time we will get our stories right!!
dear loki, im sorry...but u've missed the point.
'umchi mumbai me rehne ke baad..'hi to it makes so much more sence brother.
sometimes we give ..just because we want to give...
Sometimes you simply leave things on existence and it has its own way of taking care of you..
dear loki,how could YOU miss it bro..i thought you were more sensitive than this!
dear shuv,you are a man from the 'information' tech...but trust me ALL the 'information' wont lead anybody anywhere..
what one needs is 'transformation'.
..and the new shuv is so much more beautiful...
dear shuv, you are a great guy!'chutiyas' like you make our short stay in this world so much more worthwhile.
..so nice to see shuv dropping his mind...
..i loved Santiago so much in Alchemist bro...
jhimli: welcome back..i guess old age can mellow even bastards like me.
loky: come on man..second time nehi deta paisa..i just wrote that for effect..but first time i will give money to anyone..knowing that 99 out of 100 are lying. but that 1 person will be in genuine trouble.
i have come across 3 marathi brethrens 4 times in Blore and didnt pay a single time.
I remember the first incidence of Shuv and we were together in Blore then.
Interestingly i was approached by someone in Copenhagen. A young boy of 6th grade.. Wearing clothes much better than mine.
Any guesses what I did each time?
erm...took em home and gave them a nice meal?
ha!ha!Shuv you ARE changing maan!thats magic!!(and..not age, u dummy)
hey loki i think the major 'twist' in this story is that nobody is 'taking' shuv for a ride,instead our man wants to 'go' for a ride on his own!(for a change).thats cooool.
so lets 'dont worry - be happy'for our dear old shuv.
i met this same guy (or similar) in Manchester. this time - meri bibi pathan ke saath bhag gaya, mera sara paisa lekey ..... finally, you are an asian (he was a pak guy) - only u will understand my pain, eye gora log sab heartless hay.
so, i realised his pain - paid him few pounds, not enough though to buy is train ticket to wherever he wanted to go.
he caught me when I was checking in at the hotel in the evening at around 6:00 pm. then when I was going for dinner at around 8:00 pm (same day) he caught me again - same story - i waited patiently but didn't pay him this time. just reminded him that i've already paid him.
so, he said "sorry bhaia, dimag thik se chal nahi raha hai. Actually abhi tak pura paisa jugar nahi hua" and he went away.
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