Walking an extra mile

2 Aug 2008
12:30 PM

I am en route to SN with the sun sneaking in through the window of a not so well maintained DTC bus. The shirt I was wearing was also not helping me in my resistance against the extreme hot and humid conditions characteristic of an extended Delhi summer. I have recently decided to barter any tee I have with a formal shirt though now I have become a bit skeptical about this decision. At the same time I was also regretting the decision to occupy the first available vacant seat next to the window while boarding the bus but it was my decision and therefore I had to honor it even if it meant I was losing out on an opportunity to sit next to a girl who was herself seated next to a window.

P1- A male in his early twenties, seated next to me and at a safe distance from the sun inviting window, lucky for that but not so lucky otherwise; which you will soon find out. I hope he is in fact lucky for the rest of the day too.

P1: bhaiyaa..
Me: haan bhaiyaa…
P1: Mujhe Ashoka hotel jaana tha..
Me: haan toh jaaiyee… problem kya hai…
P1: Mujhe raasta nahi pata.. kaunsi bus jaayegi?
Me: yeh waali toh nahi jayegi 100 percent…
P1: haan conductor ne kaha tha ki Moti bagh utar jaana wahan se mil jayegi bus.
Me: toh utar jaana Moti bagh.. wahan se mil jayegi..

Now I know I could have been more helpful but I was so irritable then because of the glaring sun that all I wanted was that I reach my destination as soon as possible. This made me feel guilty.

After 2 long minutes…

Me: Bhaiyaa wahan se mujhe bus ka idea toh nahi hai par raasta pata hai.. walking distance par hai..
P1: Actually mera interview tha aur iss area mein kabhi aaya nahi hoon.

Well usually I am a very cold hearted person. You cannot even try and break open my heart with a chisel if you are a stranger but then this person made me think of my campus interviews and the job dilemma that frightens any Indian. Thank god TCS found in me glimpses of an efficient future employee.

Me: aap mere saath utar jaana main raasta bata dunga.

He is delighted; the conductor stands a reason to be delighted because now I will be vacating my seat 3 full stands before my destination from this overcrowded bus. That accounts for 30 percent of my bus fare.

Moti bagh: Start of my career as Raju guide.

Me: Interview kis cheez ka hai? Hotel management ki hai kya?
P1: nahi draftsman hoon..
Me: acha.. kya time hai interview ka.. aadha ghanta lag jaayega yahan se…
P1: do baje tak pahunchna hai… koi bus nahi milegi?

Now I have always walked to Ashoka hotel as it is at a walking distance from my place, Around 3.5 kms so never read any bus number on this route. I have had free lunch and dinner there many times courtesy of a few close connections but mostly at the back office area; breakfast was never possible for I have mostly skipped it for the best part of my life, forget about walking 3+ kms for a breakfast that too early in the morning. I make up for it by having lunch twice.

Meanwhile he wanted to know how far the hotel was, I had dare not give him the exact statistics for a ‘walking distance’ for me may not coincide with another person’s walking distance. After walking for five minutes I realized that the already little salts in me were draining out through the little pores of my skin in volumes greater than the water waves which had hit the Orissa coast during the great Tsunami of 200x. Thank god my companion was healthier than me.

P1: aap kahan rehte ho?
Me: bas ye paas mein hi.. <<>>
P1: main lakshmi nagar se aa rha hoon.
Me: Fir toh aapko doosri bus leni chahiye thi.
P1: haan.. wahan se nayi dilli station jana chhaiye tha wahan se 604 mil jaati..

A minute after that a 604 zooms past us.

Me: who 604 hai?
P1: haan…
Me: toh roki kyun nahi?
P1: haan rokni chahiye..

A loud whistle follows and he is scampering towards the bus. Whistling is a talent and P1 was very good at it, I must say. I have also been trying to learn how to whistle for the last two months with not much success. I do however manage an occasional shrill noise but I need to perfect it so that I am able to disturb the peace of the surrounding nine times out of ten with surety. He boarded the bus and smiled at me. That must have been his way of thanking people. A Pepsi would also not have been a bad option either.

So that was my short lived career as a guide leaving me with 3 more kms to walk. I decided to have a cola of my liking and replenish the salts lost in the above process. I hope P1 reaches on time. It is strange that I didn’t ask for his name neither did he. Ours is a country where bhaiyaa is a universal name applicable to any person, if his gender permits so. Ours is also a country where unemployment haunts many. P1 may not get employed today but at least now he stands a chance if he reaches in time for the interview. All I could have done today was to walk with him for a kilometer. There are thousands other who stand unemployed with no one to walk besides them. It is hence the responsibility of the privileged lot to help them in whatever capacity they can. The term ‘Bhaiyaa’ may have been used with no real feelings but there were still sentiments attached to it which neither did he fully understand nor did I. This is the thread that binds the people of my country together. So as the afternoon sun lights up the surroundings around me I don’t feel its heat but I feel the shade of helping someone calming me down, though I must say that the shade was strengthened by 300 ml of chilled cola too. It is my helplessness that all that I can do today is walk a kilometer for someone else’s sake but I do hope that a day will come when many others will be ready too walk besides me to help people. I very clearly stated that people walk beside me not run behind me. I know sometimes if you run behind me with arms in your possession you can help a far greater number of souls who stand at the receiving end of my acts of stupidity but that is not what I would like to encourage.

So before I started again towards my destination I had learnt two important lessons.
1. You should know how to whistle.
2. Chilled cola is as good as elixir of life at times.