Oye..Pajji...Pajji...Oye!!

"Mumma..i will be der in anther 45 minutes..rt nw iam at dadar station..okie!.."
I answered the call from my mom..

"Another hectic day at office...and i can soon relax at home.."i muttered..

Walking along the streets of dadar market,i felt my heart for the dozens of people
sleeping at the footpath..
"This is Mumbai.."..i said to myself and prayed with a sober heart..

I rushed towards the plaza junction...hoping to catch a bus..
rushing along the street..climbing the footsteps..i reached the main road..and

looked along the road..hoping to see bus number 172..Dejected..again..!

I look at the watch..and counted on each minute...
10.45..10.50...10.55pm..

still no sign of bus..

I had made up a mind that day not to overspend..whatever may be the reason..
I was quite adamant to catch a bus instead of a taxi..
but sometimes..a compromise or rather giving up is the only option..!

and..today seemed to be another such an instance..

Even before i could realise..tht it was not the right time to be stubborn with such

ideas..a cab driver..driving at snails speed slowly..parked his taxi in front of

me..shouting..or may be trying to shout..!!whatever..!

"bas dus rupaiiya..antop hil..antop hill..do(two) seat..bas dus(10) rupaiyya.."
I had no intention to think or rethink..on whether to get in or not..!

I opened the front door...the doors were almost into tatters..but then..it still

could function as a door..!
I wanted to ask him.."if it really was a Post 93 model..do u carry a license for
this vehicle..and what not..."
but then..
sometimes..stupidity vanishes soon..even before the act of stupidity is
committed..!![:)]

The Driver was busy shouting..hoping to catch another anxious prey..!The sound was
so loud that i couldn't rule out the possiblity for his sound to be one of the
reasons for the miserable condition of the doors..!
[human voice can have a woofer effect.."Bang Bang the Door.."[:)]]

I was getting impatient..eventhough such stupid thoughts were already keeping me
busy..
but then..a sudden realisation of getting late and thoughts of 'sambar' made me anxiously
ask him..
"Oh pajji..,ab kitni der aur rukauoge..?"

"puttar..bas aur 5 minute..koi to mil jaaye..fir niklate hain.. zara dheeraj
rakho.."he said with his bold voice.
Even before he finished saying this..a young man could be seen running towards the
taxi..
panting..he bends near the drivers window and asks..
"Bhai..VJTI..chaloge?..thoda jaldi hai.."
He was showing an extreme sense of urgency..and that backed my need to reach home
fast..!

"haan bhai..kyun nahin..baith jao" replied our grand old..pajji..with a sense of
relief..

I too with a sense of relief sighed..and helped him open the door at the rear..
I was already an expert on techniques to open 'tatterd doors'..a successful result

of 15 minute research..on this subject..!

I couldnt stop myself looking at the watch for the 7th time as he started the taxi..
I looked at him..signalling a sense of urgency..to reach home..

but the old man seemed to show no reaction..

I was pretty hungry..and I could already feel the "sambar smell"...unconciously..!

"ab kya karein baccha..log..kamai bhi jyada hoti nahin..aur phir..log pareshan.."
the same bold voice but with some pain interuppted my thoughts..
I could barely understand what he wanted to say..
but his gestures showed that he wanted to talk about his sufferings..
..sufferings which i could hardly understand..at this age.

His sound had all the experiences of his life..80 years of real life..
A long white beard..and wrinkled face...
His face had all the signs of pain and sweat...

Each fine line had a story to tell..story of emotions,shock and hunger

The taxi was already on move..and i too was
Sometimes..it doesnt take much to change your mood..

"Everyone has a defination for life.." I thought.
but now the feeling was something beyond..life..!!

Eventhough..I was frustrated and in no mood to listen to any sufferings 5 minutes

back...but nw..something had touched my heart..!

I couldnt stop asking him..back..
"Kya huva pajji..,itni pareshani kyun?"

I turn back to look at VJTI guys reaction..but he seemed to be completely unaware of

any such dialouge..

Pajji was silent for a while..
He seemed to have heard what i was asking but he was still silent.
He dint reply back..neither did he look at me.He wanted to forget whatever has happened.

He was driving the taxi in a pretty slow pace.
Some thoughts of loss and pain were going on and on in his head.

I was too busy looking at his expressions, thinking about things which could have made the grand old man appear so disturbed.

Suddenly a loud sound interuppted.
"Pajji..oye pappajee..zara roko to yaar..!!,Kab se chilla raha hun...behre ho kya??"
The guy sitting at the back seat...shouted..!!

Pajji pressed the breaks all of a sudden hearing him shout.

The taxi halted with a screaching sound...
We both started looking at the guy but he seemed to be busy shouting.

"Oye driver..jahan rokna tha wahan to rokte nahin.."
Saale...Pata nahin kahan kahan se aajate hain..."
He was complaining and shouting with no respect for age.

Pappaji was silent and i too was..
I was feeling deeply embarassed on his behaviour and language.

"Yeh lo, das rupayya..aur haan..aindaa..dhyaan se....Nahin to kaheen ke nahin rahoge.."
He said this mocking at him.

I was shattered and was feeling deeply hurt on this behaviour.Even though the guy hadnot pointed any fingers on to me but then it was a representation of the 'so called youth'.
Pajji was silent.
I held my head low with shame as It was dificult to even hear all this.

He closed the door with a big bang and left.

I wanted to console and talk to him .
I wanted to get the pain of thoughts out of him, but then i was feeling it hard to gather enough courage to console him.

Taking a deep breath he looked at me and politely said..Wiping out the tears from his eyes
"Bas do minute beta, aur main tumhe antop hill chod dunga..thoda dukhi hun is duniya se..duniya waaalon se...bas..do minute beta...".

I knew he was in a deep pain but he had already mastered the art of hiding pain..from his face.
This was nothing new to him.

Sometimes it gets really painful to see an old man who had given all his life for his wife, his children and grand children...suffer so much in a City of Dreams..or a city of Shattered Dreams.

To cool him down, I opened my bag and offered him some water to drink.
"Yeh lijiye pappaji....ise peejiye..aur thoda araam kariye.."
I said to him.

"Nahin beta,main theek hun....main theek hun..koi pareshaanee nahin.."
He said this again wiping sweat from his forhead.

He started to drive the taxi again..

Letting off tears had made his heart more light and healthy for a while.

"Pappaji..waise yeh Lassi sabse achi kahan milegi is samay pe..wahin lekar chaliye.."
Trying to kick off a good friendship..I asked him this.

"To tum lasse peena chahte ho..?abhi...waise..ab punjaabee se yeh poochoge to...hum kabhi naa nahin bolte.."he replied with the same politeness.

"Batao..beta..Punjabee market main..le chalun..wahan par milti..hai..ekdam..Punjaab dee Lassii"

He seemed altogether a diffrent man when i asked him about lassi..

This is the character which has been always a trademark for all Punjabees.
When it comes to courtesy, there is no one else who could beat them.
And our Pajji too was a proof to this.

We moved slowly towards the Punjabee market .He was drivng at a snails pace.
The air in the market was filled with the smell of tandoori and chicken.

He slowed down his taxi and halted at a lassi shop.

"Puttar,chalo..utar jao..ab main hi tumhe pila deta hun..punjab di lassi.."


It was all of a sudden.I had found a new friend...a great old friend.
It was an amazing feeling to be on the recieving end of the courtesy but then..his painful face ten minutes back was still afresh in my mind.

I came out of the taxi and Pajji ordered..the boy.."Oye do lasse pila de yaar.."
I still was not convinced if he was the same old man who was in so much tension and tears a while ago.

May be, a small gesture of respect had changed his mood altogether.
After all getting respected is an altogether a diffrent feeling.

The boy brought the Lassi and kept on the table.
"Waise main...pichle tees saalon se gaadi chalata aaraha hun..aur aaj bhi..chala raha hun.."
and we started the conversation..

We talked about all the topics right from Lassi to ....what not...
soon we were cracking jokes....sipping lassi once in a while though..[:)]

We had became friends... really good friends.

Infact, it was my responsiblity to be a good friend...
because you never know, when can You be a Victim...

A victim of Old Age
...A victim of your own blood or the....so called children!!