The Rikshawallah

With some difficulty I managed to get a chance to do an internship in a firm in Noida. The term was for 1 month..the whole of  July 2012. Yea, it was a pretty large law firm. Supposed to be one of the best.

Living in Central Delhi and working in Noida can often turn out to be a big pain. This is owing to the, close to one hour travel in the very crowded metros. Had to change  3 metros to reach my destination. I used to home wearing a well ironed shirt and trousers and polished shoes. The first metro would not be so crowded. There wouldn't be any seats available ,which hardly mattered cos I had to get down at the very next station. The second metro would be crowded. But still I was  able to move around, comfortably ,stand and read a book. The third metro, the yellow line happened to be the metro in which I had to travel for the longest time. The moment the door of the metro opens, people would start pushing. Then when the doors closed after a minute or two, one would get to experience the Wagon Tragedy of 1921 where the British packed 100 prisoners in a single wagon. Well, although the current situation isn't so bad, since we have sophisticated ventilation systems, Air Condition and also since its not exactly wagons that we have, its still tough to place your feet on the floor. I remember few instances where I was literally on the air for a couple of minutes due to the force that was applied on me from all sides. Crushed and squeezed. All throughout the journey. I had difficulty keeping my face away from someone's smelly armpit and hands from someone's arse. Gets even more difficult if the person standing nearby is a lady (Scared of the Women Protection laws of course) . By the time I reached Noida, rather than checking on my wallet and cellphone I would first see whether all my body parts were intact !
So,..here I am in the morning looking as if I had gone through a battle and done for the day. My black polished shoes would be sand brown, and my shirt obviously crumpled. When I step out of the Metro station there would be a group of  Cycle-rikshawallahs all desperately trying to get people to ride on their respecitve rikshaws. (I get to groom myself by wiping the dirt on my shoes and inserting my shirt, etc. sitting under the rikshaw canopy)

In that group was a tall, very dark chap who had a fairly athletic body. And who like every other rikshawallahs used to abuse, his colleagues, to move out of his way. So one of these routine days, of my first week I got into this man's Rikshaw, and he took me to my office. After that I used to keep seeing him in the same road where my office was situated very often,. during the day, and late when I got out of the office till before 9 p.m.

He used to take people to the station from this street during the noon and evening hours. We met 2-3 times and soon started recognising each other. In the morning he would stand there amongst all the rikshawallahs, and at the very sight of me walking to the rikshaw stand, would simply glee and and run to the place where his rikshaw was parked. He knew I would get into his rikshaw because by then we were quite acquainted to each other. His grin was a sign of welcome and indeed a pleasant sight to see after the rough metro session in the morning. He would be ready to take me to the office or back to the station from office the moment he sees me. I did not have to tell him where I wanted to go. And if I happened to be unusually late he would ride his Rikshaw swiftly, and tactfully avoid the traffic and signals. I happened to miss him once, the next time when I meet him, he would say "Kal mein aapka bohuth intezaar kiya tha....Aap aaye nahi bhaiya?"(I waited for you for a very long time yesterday..Didnt you come bro?). And I would confess how late I was that day.

He used to take authority over the other rikshwallahs to drop me where I wanted to be dropped. Each ride would fetch him Rs. 20/- from me. And I would thank him every time. And I could always see that he was happy. I used to see  Rikshawallahs  getting involved in a physical brawl with each other . I asked about this to this Rikshawallah and he told me that fights happen daily and that it was nothing new.

It was much later that I  finally ask him his name. "Mohammed Rustam Alam." That was his name. He once took me through a tough road,.
I asked him,- "Rustam, you usually go through the traffic, with ease. And the road is also pretty good. Why do you take this pathetic path full of stones and gutters?"

"There's this policeman who's standing there. He beats up people." he said. I wasn't surprised,. Rustam used to break all rules of traffic to get me to my destination fast always. Now he can't do that,. So,.. I kept talking to him and he started pedaling slower than his usual pace,..

"Rustam, it happens to be last couple of days here. I don't even know whether I'd get to see you after that." I told him.

"Where are you going brother?"

"Well I came here for just one month to work in this office. And now its getting over." I noticed the smile on his face fading.

So I told him that I stay in Delhi although I don't belong here.

"My native is also in a really far off place." he said. "It takes almost 20 hours to reach home for me." He told me some village name in Bihar and said he belonged there. "Since it is Ramzaan, and since, I'm fasting, I don't do much cycling these days. But I need to earn to look after my Ammi and Abba back home. They are poor. Most of the Rikshawallahs here have their own house, land, and so on. I have never been so lucky. My parents are illiterate so I couldnt do much as well. I wish I could read, write and study,.. If I had done that, even I would have been someone like you bhaiyya. Destiny stood against me."

By then I reached the metro station. I tapped him on his back and told him that everything will be allright. I gave him Rs. 10/- extra this time. And said - "I don't know whether I'll be meeting you again Rustam, But if I do, I promise that I'll come up and say 'hi'".I'm not sure whether it was tears that I saw in his eyes,. But he did say; "I'll not forget you sir. Even if I see you after 20 years, I will recognise you."

My last day in office got prolonged by a day due to certain unforseen circumstances. I got to meet Rustam one last time that morning. I told him I'll see him in the evening,. But  that day I finished my work early and could leave by afternoon..I looked around for Rustom , but he was nowhere to be seen ......

Couldn't get a pic of Rustam so some random internet photo of
a typical Delhi cycle-rikshaw (Copyright violation may be poardoned)

Belief, Miracle, Superstition...You name it,.

This is a reported story told to me by a very good friend of mine from Bengaluru, India about his own experience when he had visited this temple in Thiruvananthapuram (hereafter 'Trvandrum'). And I have all reasons to believe whatever he said  is true. Statutory Warning for aethists because this post is for the believers.

The Attukaal temple in Trivandrum 

After marriage one's divine inclination normally tends to rise. All right,. I'm not married yet. But ya once married, I know things for any family man changes. Thats common.

I don't know whether it was this change that prompted my friend to visit temples. In spite of having absolutely no malayalee connection he happened to visit the Attukaal Devi (Goddess) temple in Trivandrum. He visited this temple with his wife. Not knowing what and how things work in this temple, both of them  were standing, quite confused. Seeing this,..an old lady came up and told them how to make lamps out of cut lemon, and some other temple procedures in Malayalam which was obviously Chinese for the Tamil speaking couple. They still managed to partially understand whatever she told them. (Few words in Tamil are quite similar to Malayalam). 

They proceeded to the temple, prayed, and came out regardless of the fact that it was crowded. But as they came out, they noticed that every person who came out carried the prasad (material substance that is first offered to a deity in Hinduism and then consumed). Thus leading to the confused state again thinking why they didn't get it. Now coming all the way from Banglore to Trivandrum, and going back without the divine and sacred prasad is just not done. Going through this thick crowd again into the temple just to get prasad would be impractical. As they stand there with not much change in the previously mentioned state, the old lady comes again out of nowhere, to them. Asked them whether they got the prasad. They shook their head signalling 'No'. The old lady immediately hands them a bag with the perfect amount of prasad they wished to take with them. 

Now, I forgot to mention this fact that the wife, was on her 6th month. The bump on her stomach was evident. The old lady as she was handing over the prasad, noticed this and said that the couple would have a healthy handsome boy. My friend looked into the bag, and as he raised his head to thank the lady,.. she was gone. Nowhere to be seen, vanished. Strange but true. Practically thinking, an old lady like her can't just run away. But, thats what happened "puff"...she was gone!...

The wife gave birth to a boy exactly as the old lady had predicted and he is doing perfectly well. The couple named him Avyay - The Constant,. Unique.. a name for Lord Vishnu.

"God's own country" the most dangerous ?

     

Its definitely not a matter of pride for any Malayalee to be known as a part of the most crime prone state as per the NCRB statistics. When I read about this news first in Times of India, I was very disappointed because people whom till this day considered Kerala to be 'God's own country' and the most literate state in India are going to address Kerala as the most crime prone and the most dangerous state of all. I found flabbergasted expressions in the words of people who tweeted this news on twitter.

This news can be looked into positively as well as negatively. Let me talk about the latter view before I take a positive stand on the findings of NCRB.

Kerala to my understanding is a comparatively conservative state. I happened to watch a television programme in which a well known Television anchor was criticised by a public viewer about her dressing calling it indecent. From what I saw, this lady had dressed very decently and always wore dresses which suited her quite well in the programme. You switch to a hindi channel, almost every single girl would be dressed similarly if not more scantily. If public considers this TV anchor's attire indecent, I wonder how they would react to other channels. This is the mindset of the people of Kerala. 

Kochi according to the statistics is the most dangerous city with a crime rate of 1879.8. It is to be noted that Kochi is the best city in Kerala in terms of cosmopolitanism and leisure facilities as per a ToI survey. Both goes together. When people of backward mindset get to meet people with a forward mindset, all is not well between them. Fort Kochi, a part of Ernakulam (Popularly known as kochi) and the most tourist attracted place is said to be not safe after sunset. I have tried walking through this place with a couple of my friends past 10 in the night and we were stopped by two policemen. They doubted we were some kind of hooligans and initially spoke rudely. But when they were convinced about our whereabouts and who we were, they became soft and politely asked us to leave the area saying it was not safe.

I have had similar experiences in Trivandrum where even students of the age 14-15 have got "quotation teams" of their own. If one of them don't like your attitude, they got you beaten up. The same above mentioned ToI survey has rated Trivandrum to be the best city to live in Kerala with allround facilities. Compared to Kochi, Trivandrum is less cosmopolitan. Crime rate here is high because it is also the center of politics in Kerala. The legislative assembly, the CM's office all being in the capital city, it is also the favourite place for the Hartal loving political maniacs to begin their series of strikes. Almost every year, there are conflicts between students of the Kerala University (identity of the so called 'students' are never verified) and the police force. The reasons would be silly. But the student protesters start off in a violent manner by pelting stones and creating a public fracas.

Then comes the exquisite nectar;- "Alcohol". Outside Kerala, other than hailing from the most beautiful state in India, a Malayalee is populary known for his love affair with alcohol which even the international journalists of BBC has given due attention to (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8557215.stm). Saying that you are a malayalee and that you don't drink is something which you have to struggle to  convince. Its true that the annual consumption of booze in Kerala is way higher than any other state in India. People wait for festivals and occassions to open a bottle of liquor which is "celebration" in Kerala. No matter however religious or traditional it is, there is no celebration without a taste of this divine syrup. And unlike drinking to get a good mood by having 2-3 pegs, Malayalees generally drink to get royally drunk by finishing a full bottle and falling into that plastered state. And when one is that high, normally he does not tend to get a control of himself. That is when the evils spill out. Another reason for the crime rate to go this high. 

Now let us see why in a way Kerala ought to be proud about this statistics. Policing so far as I know is very strict in Kerala. Law is Law and there is no way you are going to escape once you get caught. I must say that there are some brilliant cops in the state who have brought some big names into the limelight of crime. The bright side of the National Crime RECORDS Bureau statistics is that every crime is getting recorded. Nothing is escaping from the eyes of law. The criminal may get acquitted later on. But there are complaints lodged and FIRs filed which is nothing short of an acclamation. Even petty offences like smoking in public, riding without a helmet etc are caught and fined by the police in Kochi. As I had earlier mentioned, in the dangerous fort Kochi area, police do patrolling in the night to keep the citizens safe. This is definitely  some good job by the police. Dons and Mafia kings rule in Mumbai. People take out guns from nowhere and shoot for creating a scratch in their car in Delhi. Bihar, U.P, Haryana, are places which has been in news forever for honour killing taking place in their rural areas. There are places in Tamil Nadu and Andhra where one word against a chief of the area can end up leaving you headless. And of all these places it is unbelievable that crimes are much higher in the tiny Kochi. It is a plain truth that in almost every other state of India, so much of crime go unnoticed or ignored either via means of corruption or lack of interest. 

My point is, the statistics show that crime rates are high in Kerala because the crimes in Kerala are reported and recorded which does not necessarily happen in other states. Your chances of escaping an offence by bribing a police officer are subtle.  

Kerala is a place where all people are equal. You cant expect a rikshawallah or a maid servant to show high level respect to the upper class that you see in other parts of India. Having said that, I must emphasise on the fact that people in Kerala are turning out to be over qualified.You throw a stone randomly and the probability is high that it hits the head of an MBA graduate. The labourers in Kerala treat their master as nothing more than a human being. If you don't want them, dismiss them, but next day, expect a strike in front of your house.

Statistics could not be wrong. Along with trying and covering the loopholes, it has to be read in a positive way. Life is different in Kerala. It can be fun living in Kerala for those who act and think like a mallu. Being a Malayalee myself, I have never in my wildest dreams considered it to be a dangerous place to the extent of taking a risk.