Autowallahs!

My page looks like sooo empty...... i was so used to seeing the clutter on my previous blog.But then it was the clutter that prompted me to hit the DELETE button. Anyways I am back here to write and write and vow to write more than ever before as its only words dat i have....... I think it would be nice to mention that my broadband bill is already Rs.1400 though it has been just 12 days into the month. My mom gets to know this and I will be so dead... Not that I spend a lot, I dont and I value money. Ever since I started travelling in buses.... threewheelers seem like a huge money eater. And they take like 20 times the amount required in a bus. And in a bus you always get sumone to chat to or some funny sort of chap to entertain you...while in a threewheeler its the driver who stares at you in the mirror and that is so so irritating. Though parents think that I should always use autos no matter what the expense because they think buses are not safe. But I can swear on it that buses are so much better than autos, girls just need some street smartness for it. And yes, she needs to know how to slip out of trouble. As long as a girl can do that then buses are lot better than autos.

I remember once I had a small chat with an autowallah over how he had bought his family up. He was a sardar. We were chatting something about female foeticide. His story began when his wife was pregnant and admitted into a government hospital. A nurse came over and told him that his child is a female. She then asked him to deposit Rs.1000 before allowing him to see the face of the baby girl. He was very appalled at this request. When enquired the reason for this, he was told that it is to prevent the couple from running away leaving behind the girl. The sardarji got enraged at this and told the nurse : "Saddi kudi ko kaise chodd jayenge hum!!! Insaan hain, Janwaar nahin" (How can we leave our daughter!!! We are humans, not beasts.)..He then arranged for the money and took his daughter home. Even though his financial situation was bleak at that point, he did not follow what we often get to hear such as abandoned girl childs, murdered foetus etc.... no , nothing . Instead that man who did not have money for food for himself, did not have a source of income, he did labour for those 1000 rupees and took his daughter home. I still remember his words - "Main apni bachhi ko kaise chodd ke aata...."
Later he took up several jobs till he could collect money to buy an auto. The auto bought him steady income . He told me that his daughter was in fourth standard now in a hindi medium government school. And that she was very intelligent and had jumped the second standard. She wanted to go to a better school .... one that was english medium and one that had buses. Her dreams were his vision. I just hope that he is able to afford that new school and that her daughter becomes the best of herself.

There was another old man who had been very smart in financial dealings. His sons were earning. He even managed to buy houses for his two sons and a daughter. Now that was impressive. That is what is wisdom. Though there was this weird auto wallah too who gave me lots of gyaan on how they make daaro in villages. We were like passing a beer shop and the conversation went like this :

HE : saare kaam ke baad pine yahi aate hain.
ME: unhe kya bool rahe ho.... tum khud yahaan aate hoge.
he gave dat stupid smile on this.
HE: kya kare din bhar ki thakaan mitane ke liye.
ME: ghar jake aaram karne se bhi thakkaan mit sakti hain... yahaan paise lootane ki kya zaroorat hain? saare din ki mehnat daaro mein barbaad kar dete ho... ghar ja ke wife ko kabhi kuch paise diye hain?
HE: aap bhi hamein faltu mein daat rahi hain.... sab peete hain.
ME: sab toh pagal hain hi... tum bhi banjao..
HE: par ek baat kaho?
ME: kya?
HE: isme hamari koi galati nahin..... gaon mein pite the tab se aadat lagi hui hain.
ME: hmm
HE: par is videshi main woh maaza nahi jo gaon ki sharrab main hain. Waha par toh itni nashe waali milti hain.

Now this was when it got all funny .... he went on and on about how it is made... god! i got to know the entire step by step process. .... wouldn't shut up.... finally i had a call on my cell which made him mum and then my destination came and had to get of.... though will remember his sheepish loopsided and dumb grin.