“Ye Duniya Hum Garibo Ke Liye Nahi Hai Babu…”

We all are busy in our lives,right? We all have so much to do,in such little time span of ours that sometimes we do ignore many things which are quite obvious. Which are but somehow related to us…which sometimes do make us ask ourselves- “Are we humans after all? Do we still have a bit of humanity left in us?” One such incident made me realize how selfish and mean our fellow beings have become… After ignoring it now for over 10 days I just could not stop from sharing it with you all…

It all started when around 2-3 wks back I had been to my Masi’s(Aunt’s) place in Giridih. Giridih let me tell you for those who don’t know about it, is a very small town around 65kms from Dhanbad, which once use to thrive on Mica industries, but now that those have closed, its a small town with more of small scale businessmen making the bulk of the town population.Everything was as it always had been -eventless…till he came down that day in the afternoon.

After finishing off with our lunch, me and my Mausaji(Uncle) were sitting in the garden trying to shrug off the cold by lapping up the sun’s heat. I must tell you it was very cold in that part of the town. As a few mins passed, I heard a vendor’s voice trying to sell his vegetables. The sound and the picture of the vendor became clearer as he approached our house. Finally he stopped and asked him from outside-” Kuch sabzi kharidni hain babuji? Ekdam taazi hain!!”( Do you want any vegetables sir? They are very fresh!!) I looked up at him… a young man in his late 30’s was standing with a big heavy basket on his head that was covered completely by a dirty looking cotton cloth. My Mausaji signalled him a “NO”. Then he very politely said, “Le lijiye babuji,sasti hain.”(Please try them sir,they are cheap). So my Mausaji said “Acha Gopal andar aa jao”(Ok Gopal,come inside). By that I came to know that the guy’s name was Gopal and my uncle knew him probably he might have bought from him before.

While he was weighing all the vegetables,I could not help but stare at him. He was a skinny fellow with a lot of wrinkles on his face. It seemed as if it made him look older than what he actually was. He wore a dirty light blue shirt and a ‘dhoti’,over which he had a shawl that was torn in many places. He did not wear any woolen cloth,probably could not afford to buy one.After a while I asked him, where he was from. He told me that he was from a nearby village 10kms from that place. He told me that he comes to town everyday walking all the way from his village to sell his vegetables. I asked him why can’t he take a autorickshaw,pat came the reply” Kyu faltu me har din aane jaane me 20 rupaye kharcha karun babu,kuch bach jayega to pariwar ka hi bhalaa hoga”(Why to waste 20bucks everyday on travel sir,if I save those,then my family will benefit.) I was a bit moved to hear that. Meanwhile he was done with weighing three different kinds of vegetables. Now it was Mausaji’s turn of paying him. So I asked him, how much was the cumulative total Gopal Ji? On which he said, “Wo aap bol dijiye babu, mujh anpadh ko hisab kitaab nahi aata!”(You do that for me sir, me being an uneducated fellow don’t know all these calculation stuff!). I looked at my uncle. Then Mausaji told me, that Gopalji doesn’t know calculations. So I do that for him everytime I take stuff from him. He told me that last time Gopal ji sold him vegetables worth 18 rupees. On giving him a 20 rupees note, he was actually returning back 18 rupees instead of returning just 2 rupees. It is then that my uncle realised that he did not know calculations and did it for him.

I was just taken aback. I turned to Gopal and asked me that if thats the case then probably he shouldn’t be selling by himself. Anyone can deceive him. He should rather ask his children or wife to come along with him. On that he said that he doesn’t want his children to do this. He said he has two boys whom he sends to school so that they study and can do something for themselves in future. He said his wife washes dishes and does other household chores at people’s houses to earn a living and contribute to the family income. He said they both work hard so that their children can study and make them proud one day. I was very happy to hear that. I patted on his shoulders and told him that he might be uneducated but his thinkings are better than many in our so called civilised society. So I asked him but this way, anyone can fool you and pay you less for the amount of stuff you sold them. On that he looked below. I wondered if he was trying to look at the ground or at his torn sandals…He slowly raised his head and looked up at me. he said with a feeble and shaky voice, “Ye Duniya Hum Garibo Ke Liye Nahi Hai Babu…” (This world is not for poor people like us). I could see his wet eyes,full of despair and grief. I could feel the pain that he underwent everytime he was fooled by people like us.

He told me that many a times he realises that he has been thugged only when he reaches home and his wife who knows little bit of math helps him out with counting the money. He said there have been times when people have taken stuff from him and said that they shall pay him next day. When he reached the place to collect his dues, he was given less than what he was supposed to get. He said, sometimes he doesn’t understand and sometime when he protests that it would be more, he is threatened that he is a fool, doesn’t understand calculations, he should take what is being offered otherwise he would be deprived even of that. I told him that he should not deal in late payments then. He said he had to do it sometimes when he didn’t manage to sell enough for the day. Atleast “something is better than nothing” . He told me that sometimes sometimes people deliberately pay him less telling him that “Itna hi hua hai tumhari sabjiyon ka”(Only this much for your vegetables). He said “I know that I am cheated many a times by people sir, but I don’t have an alternative. ” So far I had been listening to what he had to say, I just could not console him in anyway. I told Gopalji that “Aapke sabzi ke 72 rupees huye hain aap ye 100 rakho lautana nahi hoga. Aage se koshish kijiyega ki saman bechte samay dhyan rakhein” (Its 72 rupees for your vegetables but you keep 100 rupees, you can keep the change. Next time onwards be a bit more careful)..Having said that I got up to go inside. I went in but somehow I kept staring at him from behind the curtains. I saw him bid good bye to Mausaji by saying “Ram Ram Babuji” and pick up his heavy basket with a little help from my uncle. Then slowly he walked away. As he went further, his voice became more distant till it finally disappeared.

Gopal might have gone away but he left me baffled. He left some questions for me. He made me ask myself that are we still humans? Do we still have humanity left in us? What good will it be to take 25 rupees by fooling a poor man? There are 1000’s of Gopals in India, who are somewhere being fooled and their money being taken by people like you and me… By doing that we are mocking ourselves. We are proving ourselves wrong when we say we are civilised or we live in a civilised society. That afternoon after he left, I had a few drops of tears in my eyes too and those few lines of William Wordsworth cae to my mind that I read in Class 9…

To her fair works did Nature link
The human soul that through me ran;
And much it grieved my heart to think
What man has made of man…

-(Lines Written in Early Spring, William Wordsworth, 1798)