How would it feel if you lose vision in both of your eyes at an early age or for that matter have your right arm get amputated when you are the lone bread-winner of a struggling family? It’s very easy to get dispirited, lose hope and blame God for all the sufferings. But there are men who struggle and strive hard to lead a dignified life even when the odds are stacked heavily against them. This post is about the story of two men who for me are the epitome of courage, perseverance, determination and self respect.It was sweltering hot inside the packed compartment of New Delhi – Sri Ganganagar Express. Suddenly I hear a familiar voice of “Moongfalia le lo, daal te badam le lo”. I look up and it was the same face of an old man strutting past me whom I have seen since childhood in my most of the journeys in the Bathinda – New Delhi section. I ask him to stop and out of habit buy groundnuts worth 5 bucks from him. I always used to purchase from him not because his groundnuts are the best in the world but because I thought this is my way of helping a person live a dignified life. The man in question is special because he sells in the train in spite of being totally blind in both eyes!! Just imagine for two seconds life without your eyes. It’s not pretty and definitely it’s not easy.Ram Jeet Singh was born to a poor peasant family in 1950. He is a resident of village Khokarkala near Mansa in Punjab. At a very early age he contracted eye infection and in absence of proper medical care started losing his vision in both his eyes. By the time he was 15 he was totally blind. He says with voice choking that those were the tough times. He was rendered unemployable in field and if being blind wasn’t enough he had to hear taunts for being a liability from his near and dear ones.In many such cases people turn to begging but he was determined to live a dignified life. He started selling stuffs like groundnuts, peanuts, moong daals, lozenges etc in the trains. Initially it was tough but gradually he got accustomed to it. Today he has a family of 5 of which his elder daughter is married and now his wish is to marry his second daughter. His son is 10 years old and his dream is to see his son become an afsar after padhai – likhai.To give you a peek in his daily life he gets up early in the morning and catches the 8:15 bus from his village to reach Mansa railway station. From there he catches the 2482 Intercity Express and sells his stuffs in the train till Rohtak approx 200kms away. He has his lunch there and after a break catches the 2481 up train to return to Mansa by 5:30 in the evening. And after all this toil in grime n dirt he manages to earn Rs 50-60/- daily. Just imagine in most of the parties we don’t mind spending hundreds of bucks on one meal whereas he has to run a family of 4 in this meager sum. Suddenly I felt guilty conscious and tried to tuck in a hundred rupee note to him. He suddenly sensed that it wasn’t the natural 10 rupee note he is used to handle and asked how much is it worth. On being told he said “Saab main bheekh nahin leta. Aap se baat karke accha laga. Aap jaise bade aadmi ka mujhse tameez se baat karma hi bahut hai mere liye. Aap paise wapis le lo.” I was stunned but I managed to convince him that it wasn’t an alm but my token of appreciation for his grit and determination. After a while he relented and accepted it shyly. Mansa station had arrived and he had to get down before leaving a waived at me cheerfully and said “Agli baar aana to bas awaz dena, main pehchan jaaonga. Main chhota aadmi hoon pas agar main aapke kabhi bhi kaam aa paaya to bas ek baar bolke dekhna.” It was a humbling experience and perhaps for the first time words were failing me.On reaching Bathinda I was looking for a rickshaw. I was haggling on the price when one of the rickshaw-wallahs came, lifted my luggage and motioned to me to follow him. I didn’t notice initially but midway I realized that the rickshaw puller has his right arm amputated from his elbow. Curious I wanted to hear his story.Vijay Pal was born in a village in Fatehpur in UP and came to bathinda in 1976 to work as a labourer. After few struggles he was forced to pull a rickshaw for survival. Calamity struck him when 15 years ago he lost his arm while working in a mill. Like Ram Jeet Singh he too refused to give up under adversity and continued pulling rickshaw for his living. He says proudly “Hamnein kisi ke saamne haath nahin failaye sahib”. He has two sons and he is very particular about their studies. He says “ Mera baap mawali tha jiske liye mujhe bachpan se kaam karma padha aur padh nahin paaya. Main apne bacchon ke sath aisa nahin karoonga. Pata hai sahib kai kai baar jab himmat jawab de jati hai rickshaw kheenchte waqt tab main unka chehra yaad karta hoon aur sochta hoon kabhi wo rickshaw ke doosre side baithe balki mere side.”
When I look back I see two very different persons with one thing in common and that is courage. Most of us can’t even imagine the life these people live. For us everything is rosy and we don’t even know such a world could exist. They are proud people and are heroes in real life in true sense of the word. If at anytime I feel down and need to look for inspiration I don’t need to look beyond I just have to remember Ram Jeet Singh and Vijay Pal.
This post is courtesy Anirban's blog. I am putting this here because someday when I feel down, I'll read this.
No comments:
Post a Comment