Today where inflation has made normal life a tough game, there are people who succumb to these fatal disorders and the main victim are the poor lower & lower middle class people. Despite different tricks of the govt the circumstances have become so tough that its a really a tough stand to live life. And this may be a reason quite case has come to notice where the entire family choose to die due to poverty & many other implications in the society but there are still few fighters in every corner of life & they don't leave any stone unturned to win the race of life. you may find no surprise in my words now as we all are part of the fight to win life in this tough situation, but there are still few people who inspires me and just want to share such a brave man's story.
I travel by local train for more than 25 kms daily to work in one way and its a better mode of transport then any other mode. And in a typical Indian city of rush hours you can expect the general scenario inside the trains. I have travelled in the local train in Mumbai, Chennai, trams in Kolkata & in the Delhi Metro rail as well. As far as luxury is concerned Delhi metro edges out itself followed by tram & local trains. but when it comes to local trains Mumbai being the most dense commuters in the train, is the toughest to travel & followed by Chennai. And in Chennai the locals are hub to easy travelling people & it mostly includes crowd from lower & middle class commuters. And in India typically from ferrywalas to beggars everybody find their market better in these locals than any other place. In the evening return train where the public will be heading home from work one can find items ranging from ripen bananas to vegetables from groundnut to healthy fruits on the train itself & I have witnessed people buying it hurriedly (I think to save money & time as well). in the morning hours as people will be heading to work the beggars aim the public to earn their sympathy. In the morning hours I don't get my mind out of any intention to reach office in time, but the return journey just brings out the reporter or philosopher in me & In that mood the situation too happens to be so tragic that it tends me to think of the people & heir lives.
My story roams around such a man in the train whom I first saw in a crowded train close to 8-10 months back. On my first look of this man of honour & the man of self dignity, my mind just charged. you might be thinking what am I saying , but yes dear its the hero of the story, the old man had made my day. the old man is in his seventies, carrying the load of his life for such a long period hid backbone has leaned in the front ( in the spirit to worship the funda "work is god"). wearing a white dhoti & a kurta ( a typical south Indian dress & a towel on his shoulders to cover his common manship) he was shouting "Nilakadalai" which means groundnut in Tamil. Seeing him I can say that he has defeated age for his earning. I could see he can hardly walk but he dared to sell the favourite time pass item of many in the trains to get his earning. I have seen healthy young people acting like disabled begging on roads in Delhi & they used to run when police chased them. But here an old man who can hardly walk dares to chase the crowd in the no space train. In the beach to tambaram lave where at every 3 minutes a train passes this man travels from chromepet to nungambakkam to sell a little bag of groundnut. I have seen this man counting his earning off the business a chromepet station. Sitting on the ground he tries his mathematics to yeild profit & return home. What a man, what dignity he has as compared to people who dont feel ashamed to beg even if they can earn it. Seeing him i get strength everyday & I say to myself that I won't stop working at least till my body is with my mind. Like his spirit of never let go I will fight with every odd & have little espect to hold my head on my shoulders. There can be nothing new for people like us to witness hard work in office but considering his age where he should have bedridden & mouth fed he is doing such hard work. It just reminds me of the pain people go through to earn their livings & kicks my butt when I feel tired or lazy to go working. May the almighty lord Venkateswara give him all strength & his share of fruits for the hard work he does.May everybody understand the meaning of work & life , India for sure could have got out of many reasons for which it lags behind...
Lets salute the spirit of such people.
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