Rickshaw

Any weekday morning…
Time: 8.00- 9.30 am
Place: outside my colony…

Scene: 10-12 office going people, getting late for office… standing away from each other at different strategic places (nakas)… desperately waiting for an auto… one auto comes…
everybody: “ rickshaw…auto”
autowala goes wrrrummm…
ppl waiting for auto: “ye rickshaw wale bhi na…ek time pe milta nahi…ab mera train chhut jayega.."
people start walking towards station which is 3-4 km away…in hope of getting a bus or rick or a lift…
I am also one of these frustrated people. Suddenly from nowhere a rick comes..I manage to get hold of it…
I ask “station?” …Reply “nahi”…again I ask “cidco?” reply “nahi”…”kopri? (Station east)” reply “nahi”… with frustrated yet very cold face I ask in my normal voice “ to bhaisaab aap kaha jayenge? Mujhe batao , mai bich me kahi utar jaungi.jarurat to hum logoko hai.. aap to bahut upkar kar rahe hai hume aapki ki rickshaw me bithake…” dunno how, but feeling bit ashamed of this reality he agrees to drop me near station. I thank god for making that rickshaw-wala to stop near me and for making me to keep cool…

Everyday same thing happens at various places in thane with some changes here and there. Anytime, any moment you ask them for a place and most of them will straight away reject your request. I think one should keep the actual place on 2nd rank in their list n should ask abt any random place first. Because probability of rejection is 0.95.

Rickshaw…the inseparable part of my life. Staying at a place outside the city for past 11 years has made me to depend upon these ricks n rickshaw-walas. In my bro’s words “thanyatil rickshaw chalak-malak sanghatanechi mi aajanm sabhasad aahe” (lifetime member of rick union)

In this span of 11 years I have came across thousands of auto-drivers…everyone is different from another. Of course I don’t remember each one of them by face. But somehow if I sit in one rick more than once, then I do realize that I have traveled using this rick before. Though I don’t search for any special things in rick, but usually a photo, a saying, a different shaped mirror catches my attention. I remember, I used to go to ram maruti road for tution when I was in 9th std…that time I managed to get a particular auto 2-3 times in a single week…that auto driver never talked with me..then I forgot abt that person… after that almost 6 yrs later, one morning I got the same auto.. I cudnt recognize that driver… when I was getting down, he asked me “ tai aata ram maruti roadla nahi jaat ? aadhi tumhi tithe classla jaychat na?” I was so surprised to know that the auto driver recognised me after 6 long years…I said “ ho. Tevha class la jayche.aata engineering karate.” He said “ chhan.khup mothya vha.” N then he disappeared in the traffic. I tried every bit to capture his face in my memory. N then told myself , next time I’ll meet the same person, I guess he’ll only ask me “tai engineering jhale ka?”

Now that I’m writing abt these ppl, so many things r coming in my mind. Had some very good experiences with them n some very bad too. sometimes had debates on rick rates, sometimes had discussions on various topics ranging from rains, municipality, politics to reservations, riots…some kept mum, some talked a lot…some were honest, some were cheaters…having both the parents working in RTO, I used to rattofy all the tariffs, n used to fight for every single extra rupee the driver used to demand…so many memories I have… but have to restrict myself. Else I can go on and on.. this topic as I said, is an inseparable part of my life…