Sometime
back I was travelling in a train in one of those crowded unreserved
compartments, I suddenly realised maybe I had miscalculated my next destination
and could end up stranded late into the night in some godforsaken place. It got
me concerned. I wanted to recheck my plans, at the critical moment the net
connectivity of my phone was down. I rarely take out my laptop while travelling
in squalor surrounding as it attracts attention, sometimes of the very wrong
kind. It’s always better to keep a low profile while travelling, the advantages
of blending in are many. Desperate I took out my laptop and plugged in the net,
and was busy working out the details. A kid who could be about 7 or 8 years old
unhinged himself from his mother’s lap and moved towards me, he put his hand on
my shoulder, I gave the impression of being quite busy all the while aware of
his movements. Slowly very deliberately he moved it along my arms, and rested
it for a while. He observed me, while I managed to glance at his mother, a
woman who looked much older than she was, wore a faded saree that was on the
verge of tearing. The overused slippers just about manage to cling to her calloused
feet. She too was observing the boy keenly. There was sense of pride, a glint
in her eyes. The boy looked at his mother; she made a face indicating “what a
big man you have become!!”, she smiled, he smiled back sheepishly. The boy wore
a fresh ironed white shirt and his hair was neatly parted. There was something
dignified about them, despite obvious desperation the fate of life had placed
them in. The boy had by now started to touch the laptop, he was sensing the
object. The moment it became clear that he had intruded and is disturbing. The
woman plucked him and lodged him back to her lap. He laughed, she hugged him.
She held him tight till he start to wriggle. In her fragile world she saw a
glimpse of him that she willed. A boy who would grow up to be someone worthy,
someone who could use these complicated things that she doesn’t understand but
knows is signs of prosperity and importance. Maybe she doesn’t know there is
also a world of darkness in these gadgets, and that these signs of prosperity
and indicators of knowledge are many a time quite superficial and means to vile
away time. But in the delicate world she live dreams comes quite easily. The anxiety
of their lives see possibilities in these little opening for a better world,
for a world that is reachable. The innocence weaves a wonderful possibility. Atleast
that is what she thinks, and may her wish come true. The journey though is arduous
and constantly widening disparities has made it extremely difficult. Still you
wish them to be happy, all the while you know it is going to be quite tough,
tragedy awaits the nearest corner. But then you think why do we want to go to
future, why see everything in terms of expectations and fulfilment? This moment
of aspiration is in itself a moment to cherish. Years later, when in one of his
reflective moments he may find this very moment his solace, she too will long
for this very instance. To love and be loved, there is nothing more than to it.
She was happy, and the child too was contented to be briefly part of something
bigger, though it is a fake. I too am not what they define as success, I too am
fake! But what is important is the interlude of happiness, a pause from harsh
realities of life.
Many years back I saw this movie Naseem (directed by Saeed Mirza) at a
film festival, though not a great movie but the ending was compelling, wherein
the elderly man says a lie and is caught by the young girl. The man says “you
have laughed, that is what matters”, truly one of the most brilliant lines,
remarkably the movie ends with these lines and has stayed with me forever. At
the end it is not the future but this moment that matters. In the crowded
compartment of the train, people who are facing immense hardship and bleak
future are smiling….well that really matters, atleast for that kid!!
If Cocacola bechne
wala boy can get Ratna why cannot my daru bechne wala beta get Padma!!
…that
was mediocre lyricist ZK pitching for his mediocre genes. Madamzee wasn’t impressed,
the bureaucrat who was watching these drama keenly intervened “Thum log gatiya log
ho thumhari aukat nahi hai” and pushed them out “Chalo niklo yaha se. Chale
athe hai ye chahiye wo chahiye”. It was Crude woman, who meanwhile hinged
herself against the door, saw the opening “Kya ghatiya log insaan nahi hothe?”
but ZK indicated it was time to move on “Onchi dukaan feeka pakwan” “Chalo ji
chalo buhut dekke hai Italy wali madamzee ko”. Crude woman said “Hum bhi ja
chuke Italy kayi bar. Arre buhuth dekke hai, apna tewar hame math dikao”. It is
the same person who a year back was doing “Mamamia gratzi gratzi”, ZK was seen rolling
on her feet, in a heightened moment of pseudo secularism. You know the ship is sinking
by the stampede of the rats. Clearly congress is out you can see that in the
change of strategy of ZK& Co. They are sniffing into BJP, having sucked
whatever they could they have now taken their bora bisthara for greener pasture “Hum tho pal pal ke panchi hai”
ZK tries his mediocre lyricism and claims that his attack on Modi was to help
Sushmazee. The old trick of chiselling the divides for benefits. This is also
the right time for international angle for playing saviour to the country.
Watch
them how they fix National awards, already they are building the ground. Milkha
is been fed some ads and so has gone to the town with his appreciation; culture
lafangas (that includes nothing to do
but royal Karan Singh so on) have been pocketed. The jury will be fixed which
will include the fellow who disgraced the nation with his braying at Commonwealth
(if not him his connections, it is an intriguing web of saving the country). It
is time to return the favour to ZK’s gene, it is matter of family parampara. It’s going to be a huge victory
of secularism in this ‘trying times’!!. It goes without saying that these
people have severely undermined propriety and degraded institutions, in two party
scene the other side is expected to do their damage as return favour…
