Dastaan-e-coaching (Part 3) : Rickshaw!

The second last day of coaching and the last time I saw him!

Memories. 

I've realised I'm very attached to them and I love putting them down in words, tell them as stories. I'm so fond of memories that I don't want to lose them to time and hence I want to preserve them - somehow, anyhow.

Because at times, it is your memories that warm you up and make you meet your smile, the smile you lost to the drudgery of life.

Before this memory fades away ( I don't think it will in near future, but who knows!), I want to fetch it from the depths of my memory well and pour it out.

Rickshaw!

During the 6 month stint of coaching classes in Delhi ( yes, I call it a stint. Aditi pointed out that living in a PG is a full time job. Couldn't agree more!), rickshaw rides were a daily feature. So was bargaining. Like many other things I'm not so good at, I wasn't good at bargaining. This skill was acquired with continuous encouragement from friends and daily encounters with rickshaw walas!

"Bhaiya, metro."
*Bhaiya nods in agreement, waits for you to get on the rickshaw*
"Kitne?"
"30 rupees"
"20"
"Nahi."

Now the trick is to turn around, as you have been greatly offended/hurt/ a mixture of both and start walking in the opposite direction ( My "teachers" have taught me well!). It works, most of the times. They call me back, I get in the rickshaw, with a smirk and feel proud of having saved those precious 10 rupees ( student living away from home? You get the feeling right? ) and also a little guilty of having tricked the poor guy of his due.

This became the daily dialogue. At times, in response for "Kitne?" , they would laugh and say - "Hum jaante hi hain aap 20 rs. me hi jaaoge" or "aapne 20 rupees se zyaada diye hain kabhi?". I used to laugh along. These responses, a break from the monotony, used to make my day! The rickshaw walas started recognising me! 

Months passed by. As the stint was about to end, I met this genial character. 

I was polishing my bargaining skills one day at the metro, talking to a rickshaw wala, when he pitched in and said - " Ye to roz yahin se jaati hai, koi baat nahi, le jao!" The rickshaw wallah I was bargaining with relented and dropped me to Kamla Nagar.

For days together, I would see the genial rickshaw wala and he would drop me to Kamla. I didn't even have to mention the place or bargain for the rate! When one day, I was about to repeat the 'daily dialogue' I had got used to repeating, he said as if talking to himself - " Haan main jaanta hu! Roz vo chhoti si ladki aati hai Kamla Nagar jaane ke liye, 20 rupees me hi jaati hai."

Oh the perks of being the little girl in the big city!

I smiled throughout that little trip.

On days I attended both the classes he would smile and ask -"aaj late ho gaye?" I could just reply with "Ji" and smile.
(Not late actually, I was just bunking world history classes earlier!)

The other day when I thought I did not have change and offered him a 100 rupee note, he said - "chhutte nahi hai beta, kal de dena." 
 After a tiring day, in the seemingly cruel city, and this world where people run the blind race of hoarding money, this person is okay with forgoing his fair share. I was moved. I found two filthy 10 rupee notes in my bag and gave it to him.

The last day of class. I get out of vishvavidyalaya metro station and look for him. He wasn't there. I walked till my destination. 

He was nothing short of a guardian angel. I could never pay for the happiness he added to my otherwise mundane days. The little (but important) part he played could only be cherished as a memory! :)  

                                             ***********

Epilogue

18 May 2015

Vishvavidyalaya metro station

Another year, another set of entrance exams and yet another period of doubt and anxiety. But as I was making an exit from the metro station, the one thing I hoped for so strongly that I was almost sure of it to happen, and it did - I was greeted by that familiar, kind face - the nicest rickshaw waale uncle I ever came across!

The first thing that I observed was that he looked a few years younger, and the second that perhaps the weather is taking its toll on my perception!

Even after 3 months of being away from the city, he recognised me. I followed him to his rickshaw, smiling. And as if that gap of 3 months never existed - I didn't have to bargain nor did to tell him where to go. It was as it had occurred in the past, and was like it had continued to have happened.

On the way, he asked me - " Bade dino baad dikhaayi diye aap."
And I was sure that he does remember me!
"Jee, ghar gayi thi, exam dene aayi hu."

After a tiring day and a ridiculous exam ( the question paper was brilliant, the way I attempted it was ridiculous!), this rickshaw ride cheered me up. We reached Kamla, I paid him the fare which he took smiling, as ever. I thanked him and left, hoping that maybe, I'll see him the next day too. But knew, it would probably be too much to expect and probably this was the pending goodbye from the last time.