Mumbai ke rickshaw-wale bhaiya

It was the worst rain that I had seen in life. My alarm kept ringing. The moment I opened my eyes, I thought that I had set my alarm for some different time. But no, it’s ringing the regular time; I realized it when the clock phone started screaming again in next fifteen minutes. Then I bothered to see the time. Oh my God, I screamed, its 7 :30 in the morning. How do I catch the bus at 8. Got ready in next 15 minutes and started from home. It was raining as if it would never stop. The sky was dark like 5 in the morning. As if Indradev had cursed Mumbai again and this whole city would be flooded in next few hrs if it continues pouring like this.

I felt pity on myself as I had to go to office in that weather. It happens in everyone’s life who is in the IT industry and especially if he/she is in some Indian IT firm. Unfortunately my internet connection at home was not working that day. Patni has a strict rule of not allowing people to work from home (I still could not understand the reason behind this!!Anyways, it’s not a great idea to talk about this openly on internet). Though I have never regretted of accepting Patni’s offer over Capgemini; that day I definitely felt crazy abouit why we could not work from home at least during the rains. “Some major deliverable to onsite team, so I have to be at work”, that’s running in my mind then. Finally I put a full stop to all these complains and started for office thinking of the golden principle of my life. One of them is, “you should never regret of what you have done” and I didn’t want to break my own rule. Then suddenly I started feeling good about joining Patni as I could learn a lot here and as I had people like Vir , KP, Gita, Boss, Aarti, Anup, Chitra &Madan here. Ritu came to send me off till the gate. Her company- Mphasis was kind enough to declare it as a Rainy day.

I walked down the steps and stood in front of the gate in that rain for at least 4/5 minutes till I could manage to board a rickshaw. I had decided that I would sit inside the rick till my bus came. There was more than a foot of water standing on the road. I was amazed to see the crowd. People were still going to their offices (All those people might be from Indian IT companies). The rickshaw driver was really efficient to drive on the road with that kind of water-log. It took around 20 minutes to reach my office instead of 5/7 minutes. I finally reached my bus stop. I didn’t dare to stand outside the rick, just kept checking if bus had come. I waited for nearly half an hour in the rick and asked him to keep the meter on so that he would not feel bad about standing at the same point for so long. What amazed me in that half an hour, was this rickshaw driver. One of the sweetest rickshaw-walas I have met till date. While waiting there I saw him laughing again and again seeing the people on the road. I could not stop myself from asking him what the reason behind his smile. I finally asked him, “kyon itna has raheho bhaiya..?” Then he started laughing even louder and replied, “Madam, ye log saal bhar itna accha dress karke office jaate hain aur aaj dekhiye kese sab bhig bhig ke marte hue office jaa rahe hain, aaj main bhi inh logon se achha lag raha hoon, mazaa aaraha hai” (“all these people on the street get ready and dress up so smart everyday and go to office. Today all of them are so ordinary looking, clothes are drenched out in rain and I am looking better than them”). I was surprised at his answer but what he was looking was definitely right. He had got more liberty in driving his rickshaw over what liberty we have got at our work place. Then he started telling about himself that he his TY in B.Com this year and found this as an independent occupation than working in some small office. Then he told me “Madam main aap ke ghar ke paas hi rehta hoo, bas aap flat main rehte hain aur main chaali main. I am from UP but I am born & brought up in Mumbai”. I was listening to all that he was talking though I was busy checking if my bus had arrived at the stop or not. Looking at my restlessness he said, “Madam, aap baahar mat nikliye, hum dekh ke batate hain ke aapka bus aaya ke nehii. Bas aap apna bus number batayiye”. I told him my bus number and sat inside the rick little peacefully, thinking that this guy would lemme know.

I knew that my bus might get delayed because of the rain but I never thought that it would be late beyond half an hour. He immediately told me that Madam, aapki bus aagayee, the moment it reached the stop. By then I knew quite a lot about him and I knew that this guy definitely deserved a place in my blog. I handed him over a 50 rupees note. The last question I asked him was his name ; he replied Neeraj Mishra and I boarded the bus.

Sometime we just like some people; this likeness may be beyond our work or friend circle. But still we remember them. This guy probably belonged to that category. The next morning was better in terms of rain. I got ready and started for office, the moment I reached the gate, someone said Good morning Madam, it was not the voice of my watchman. I looked up; it was Néeraj who had again come.