They
were very very poor, he said.
His
mother used to wash utensils in bade sahab’s house and get the remnant food for
her kids. They were 4 in number, Ali being the eldest. They all had to wait for
24 more hours for their next so called meal.
Their
clothes were torn and stitched in patches by their mother.
They
never went to school.
But their mother taught them well, whatever little she knew, and Ali’s attitude and broad mindedness reflected the way he recited his
past to me. He was not sad about his childhood, but pretty composed and
neutral while talking about it.
As
Ali grew older he wanted to start earning to support his family financially,
seldom knowing where to start, as he had no education at all and neither knew what
his skills were.
By
observing he understood people and their temperaments, he said.
After
several struggles (which he didn’t tell me explicitly) he got into driving
autos.
But
he also said that he never remembered any roads or lanes, chowks or blocks. He
just drove, drove like that for the past 17 years. (yes, he did have a license.) He said that he had a huge no. of clientele as he connected with all his clients
and felt responsible for them until he safely dropped them to their destination.
This attitude of his literally
blew my mind! I had never heard any driver say this!!
He
also said that he loved talking and hated being quiet during the rides.
Only
since the past 1 year he had started driving cars. He said that once he sets his
mind onto something, he would have the fire within him until he was successful.
He was driving a Toyota Etios now.
His determination was
commendable!
He
said that now he was really rich, he could buy a meal, a dress. These were big far-fetched
dreams for him back then.
While he was talking to me, I received a message on my mobile, so my attention was there,
he observed promptly and apologized for his chatter.
This again put me to awe as I
didn’t expect such a courteous etiquette from a driver! I was stunned! He was quiet until I signaled him to continue his talk!!!
Ali continued by speaking about music; he said that he often heard old songs and that he
related them with his life and found deeper meaning in it. He also said that they don’t make such good songs anymore.
He
then said that he was fluent in Kannada and Hindi, and could manage Tamil and
Malayalam. He also expressed his view on the few places he had visited in South
India and shared his thoughts on the people there. To my surprise, it seemed to
match with my own thoughts!! He spoke about the courteousness, unity, extent of helpfulness
and the attitude of the people.
He
also shared an embarrassing experience he had faced 6 years ago. He had to take
a train to a particular place and instead of the correct train, he boarded the
train that was on the other side of the platform as he didn’t know how to read.
As time progressed he realized that he was going in the opposite direction, he
got down and somehow found his way home. He said that he dreamed of taking a
flight to Nagpur once but was scared to make the same mistake again.
This
prompted him to ask me all about flight journeys and I with pleasure explained to
him in the easiest possible manner whilst giving him a lot of analogies from
day to day life about it, for him to easily relate to the process. He also
asked me a lot of questions, a lot of relevant and sensible ones.
Could I have been more impressed!!!
My
ride was coming to an end.
He
finally said that he is married and has 3 children, and his wife left him a
year ago. Though he tried a lot to bring her back, it didn’t work out.
He said that he practically lived in this car, he would sleep when he felt sleepy and
he would drive after that, eat whatever he found nearby and that was his life. His
brother lived in the same city and often told Ali to come and stay with them.
Ali said that he didn’t want to be a burden on him and that his brother was
his own but his brothers’ wife and children were strangers after all, having
their own life, struggles and activities. He fit nowhere in it.
I felt that his thinking on this
whole situation was one of a matured person with great clarity. And there was a lot of truth in what he said.
He
said that he often felt that he couldn’t do much for his parents and that his
father loved to eat chicken. And now, every time he had chicken his throat
chocked thinking about his father and he could never finish his order.
His deep love and attachment to
his Late father was very touching.
I
reached my destination, he stopped the car and apologized for talking so much
and said that he liked talking to me. I told him that he needn’t apologize for
anything and that I enjoyed the ride.
And
that was all. He was gone and so was I.
But the impact he left on my mind was for quite some time....
