The hills that we climb (and do not realise)

When I was working at Infosys, there was a mountain (hill, to be precise) right beside the office campus. In fact, this whole area is hilly, and approx. half of the campus was clearly right up the hill. While catching office buses from the bus bay (during initial days I used to take bus for many months), we could be standing right at the bottom of the hill. The hill changed colour across the seasons. It turned green in rainy season, brown in the summer, and at one time, perhaps in autumn they used to burn down all the grass in a controlled manner and I could see the whole mountain burning right in front of my eyes. All these things I never imagined in my childhood that I would see, since I was born and brought up in the Himalayan plains where mountains were not always visible (except some rainy mornings, when we could see the Himalayas due to perfect air quality).

In my current job at another IT company, we have a cafeteria which has sitting arrangement in the open on the second floor, with a clear view of a big mountain. I guess the mountain is at only 3-4 kilometres from our office. While having coffee this morning in the cafeteria, I could see lot of birds in the sky, but those were coming from the direction of the mountain towards our office building or general population. There are lot of trees in the area, perhaps those birds had gone towards the mountain for gathering food during the day, and in the evening, they were all returning to the trees near the human habitat.

While having breakfast in the open cafeteria, sparrows and crows regularly visit and eat poha and other food items leftover either on the tables or from the discarded plates kept near the bin. I remember, even at Infosys, we used to have sparrows frequently running in the foot courts, having easy food. No need to go to the fields to collect grains or worms; just have cooked delicious (and cholesterol filled) food right from humans’ plates.

I also noticed that most of the birds which were returning from the mountains, were couples. We all know how birds live together as a couple all the time. It must be in their genes.

Finally, this evening, I realized that I have been living near the hills and the mountains for so many years now. If I go just half an hour from home, I can see big mountains, along with springs and rivers. In childhood we used to make drawings of mountains, rivers and springs. Especially those who live on the plains, we do not see mountains that often.

One interesting thing about life is that we forget what we got while we keep chasing what we want. Life is a mirage, and I remind myself very often not to chase it and not be part of the rat race.

It is much better to be content inside than flashy outside.

I wonder how the birds feel while they are flying in the sky or having food from humans’ plates in the food court, or while returning from the mountains along with their spouse, or while sitting idle on a tree. Is it a mix of happiness, thrill, fear, insecurity, boredom, like humans do, or is it something which humans have no idea about.

That, perhaps, I shall never come to know. But I shall try.

- Rahul

  

The Kid On a Traffic Signal

 

I have a few memories of the time when I was a kid and used to go to school on a ‘school rickshaw’ in my small hometown. It was a manually pulled rickshaw, with specially made wooden trailer, where four or five kids used to sit facing each other in each of the two parallel rows. I think I still have some glimpses of the rickshaw-wallah who used to service our school-rickshaw. He was dark skinned, had nice hair, and was very talkative. And how the roof of the rickshaw was made of “tin” like metal which used to make sound whenever the rickshaw moved or came across a jerk! When railway ‘gumti’ (level crossing gate) came, a couple of boys used to get down and push the rickshaw so that it could ride the small hill called the ‘railway gumti’. We also enjoyed the other side of it, when the rickshaw rolled down at high speed due to the slope.

Recently, after many-many years, I had stopped at a traffic signal and noticed that there was a ‘school van’ standing besides me. I think it was a yellow colored ‘Tata Magic’ vehicle which is popular as a school van these days. There was a kid sitting near a window, perhaps a boy, and he happened to observe the vehicles who were stopping at the red traffic light and said to his friend in Hindi, “Jo log imaandaar hote hain, wo rukte hain” (Those who are honest, follow the traffic rules and stop when the signal is red). His statement instantly went deep inside my heart.

The kid had thought that stopping at a traffic signal was a conscious choice of riders which could tell about the person’s integrity. This was such a touching thought. I think after growing up, today I believe that most of the people who do not stop at traffic signals do so because of general carelessness and disregard to the traffic rules, irrespective of their personal integrity. Although I stop at traffic signals most of the times, but the boy’s statement made me reflect on several occasions when I did not. I did feel a little embarrassed. I was not aware that if I did not stop at a traffic signal, a kid could be watching and judging me, thinking that I was not an honest person.

The way the innocent kid pronounced the long word “imaandaar” in Hindi still wanders in mind when I think about the incident. May the magical thing called childhood be always enjoyed by all kids everywhere, in all times and places.

- Rahul

Lone Musketeer

 

On my way to the office, I noticed a young boy, around 8 to 10 years old, standing by the roadside, signaling to passing motorcyclists for a lift. I saw several bikes ahead of me ignore him, so when I approached, I decided to stop. The boy looked at me, seeking confirmation, and I nodded to let him know he could hop on.

But what happened next took me by surprise. Instead of getting on, he walked away and returned with a large sack filled with empty glass bottles—beer bottles, to be precise. It appeared he had been collecting them from the roadside along the highway. I had seen similar bottles scattered on the footpaths, likely left behind by people who drank there at night.

The boy struggled to lift the heavy sack, and I immediately told him that I couldn’t give him a ride with that load. Then I continued on my way.

For a while, I couldn’t stop thinking about him. Was he a ragpicker? Or had he just started trying to earn money this way? Maybe he had done this before and was hoping someone would help him again. Or perhaps he was simply a resourceful child, finding creative ways to make a living.

The encounter made me reflect on the reality that we live in a world filled with “parallel lives”—realities that exist around us but often go unnoticed.

- Rahul Tiwary

A Little Homeless Girl

 

On my way to office, there is a portion of road besides which some homeless people live by having made a make-shift tent-house and they sell a host of items (mainly toys) to the passersby. As rains have started, today while I was passing by, I noticed half a dozen kids of around 6-7 years of age making a loud sales pitch and selling “mudguards” for motorcycles. As I ignored them and passed by, suddenly a scene captured my attention.

There was a small girl of about 6-7 who had collected a big dusty blanket on her head and she was shouting in anger. It seemed as if someone from her family had asked her to gather the blanket but had not told her where to keep it; and as she had already gathered the heavy blanket over her head, she was shouting and asking where to keep it, as she did not have the energy to keep it on ground and to pick it up again after figuring it out. This idea that such a homeless poor little girl would also shout in anger at her parents startled me a bit.

It is a whole different topic about why kids shout angrily at their parents; but the poor little girl doing the same thing in a way comforted me that she was having a normal childhood, and all was not lost. Of course, she was able to do it only if her parents had given her the right to do so, meaning she was loved by them and well taken care of. This is hardly a conclusion which could be made merely by going through the scene, but I am convinced that it is what it is.

- Rahul