“Babu, will you please give me two rupees more than your Rickshaw Bhada?”
The poor rickshaw puller innocently asked me on my way to Sheltar Chak from Barabati Bali Yatra (one of the traditional carnivals of Odissa) Maidan.
Before I could say a thing, he added, “I’m just requesting, don’t give if you don’t feel like”.
I retorted back with irritation — “but, you had agreed for Rs 6/- for the bhada, why two rupees more?”
He was mum for some time and then said “I’m falling short of Rs 2/-”.
“From what?” I questioned him again threateningly…
“I’m falling short of Rs 2/- to buy a Milk Dabba for my 6 months old baby. I’ve collected Rs 38/- from my entire day’s rickshaw pulling and it amounts to Rs 40/-”.
I tried to open my mouth to say something. Before I could say anything, he stopped the rickshaw, looked back, saw my face and said, “no problem, I just requested you, if you don’t want.. don’t give, will wait for some more time and by God’s grace I hope will be able to earn two more”.
Then he started paddling towards my home. After a couple of minutes, he just said to himself (addressed to his kid), “By the time I collect two more, shops will be closed, and you (his kid) will have to sleep again in hunger tonight”.
It was 11 pm at night in the month of November, quite late in the night for the eastern part of India. He was pulling me in his cycle rickshaw from the Bali Yatra Maidan to my brother’s place at Cuttack. I was in my 12th standard at that time, studying at Ravenshaw College. I got late watching music and dance numbers in the famous Habib Melody on that evening. No one agreed to go with a fare of Rs 6/-, all the rickshaw-walas were charging Rs 10-12/-. I was bit surprised, when this one agreed for Rs 6/- after a moment’s thought. May be he was a bit calculative at that time and thought of loosing the chance to earn Rs 6/- more, just to get that milk dabba home in time. Even though, he fell short of Rs 2/- he did not loose faith on his profession.
A 10-15 minutes journey by rickshaw from Barabti to Sheltar Chak. In the entire conversation, I was silent for most of the time, thinking about him, his 6 months old baby, me, my friends and the society. I was not that matured at that time to understand everything. During Bali yatra, I found some people throwing money on anything and buying trinkets indiscriminately. But, the same people would have gone to any extent to bargain with a poor rickshaw puller. I too had spent a lot from my pocket money on eating and watching melodies and operas. Whereas the rickshaw puller struggles to save Rs 40/- to feed his small kid (forget about himself and his other family members).
The value of Rs 2/- for him was the value of his kid’s life, where as it had no meaning for some other people. Such is the denomination of money, some thing which has no value for someone might be a whole life for some body else.
Those two rupees ….. aamjunta think about it.
Filed under: gandhigiri, nextgen | Tagged: gandhigiri, life
Dear Aamjunta,
Nice thoughts, which have been narrated beautifully, however, I feel It is not the “denomination of money, some thing which has no value for someone might be a whole life for some body else”, as you have put across but the values of the man in need, the protagonist of the event you have narrated.
Quite often we find that the core values of life are depicted by people who need them the least. Is this the reason they stay contended even though they fall further into deprivation.
Thanks Rajnish for sharing your thought, You are absolutely right. Yes, it is not the denomination of money I’m highlighting. By saying “Those two rupees ….. aamjunta think about it” — I just opened the thread. Two things I wanted to emphasize in this article: (a) Don’t give up, keep trying honestly till you achieve (rickshaw puller was ready to wait for some more time to earn two more) (b) The value of the money or any other resource is different for different people. One has to understand that before spending (some time wasting/throwing).
That’s a powerful phrase: “Such is the denomination of money”.
However, from the way you’ve narrated it, I felt as if the rickshaw puller was selling a sob story — somewhat like how we crib about getting less marks in our exams (”give me two marks more, my career is at stake”). But then again maybe the rickshaw puller was telling the truth.
Yes, you might be right. But, I doubt! This is because as I narrated –”No one agreed to go with a fare of Rs 6/-, all the rickshaw-walas were charging Rs 10-12/-. I was bit surprised, when this one agreed for Rs 6/- after a moment’s thought.” He could have charged some more too, which he did not (Usually people charges 7-9 for that distance).
There is nothing to dis-belief and it is up to the individual to decide whether it is a sob story or not.
Some time we should believe from a human angle, and that too in the late night. Infact one can read the face.
Comparing marks with life is not appropriate. There is no alternative and one can’t get more marks once the exam is over or result is out (except by cribs!). In the other case, the rickshaw puller was quite confident to earn two more if he waits some more time. He had alternatives, but that was too late.
Really a mind boggling thought.
Can we add the following lines which are somewhat similar to this.
To realize
The value of a sister
Ask someone
Who doesn’t have one.
To realize
The value of ten years:
Ask a newly
Divorced couple.
To realize
The value of four years:
Ask a graduate.
To realize
The value of one year:
Ask a student who
Has failed a final exam.
To realize
The value of nine months:
Ask a mother who gave birth to a still born.
To realize
The value of one month:
Ask a mother
who has given birth to
A premature baby.
To realize
The value of one week:
Ask an editor of a weekly newspaper.
To realize
The value of one hour:
Ask the lovers who are waiting to Meet.
To realize
The value of one minute:
Ask a person
Who has missed the train, bus or plane.
To realize
The value of one-second:
Ask a person
Who has survived an accident…
To realize
The value of one millisecond:
Ask the person who has won a silver medal in the Olympics
To realize the value of a friend:
Lose one.
1. From the business mind it shows the rikshaw bala’s policy.
2. From the common life it shows the value of 2 rupees even can make difference to make stop something to happen.
3. From individual life we should be ready to provide some solution to every problem( either to self thinking about our duty at this time or about his problem). Rather we shouldn’t leave it and simply avoid any confusions whether to give 2more rupees or not. So decission regarding to make him happy or self happy was completely required at that moment, so that thought at later case could have been minimised.