A Few Good Men

"साईं इतना दीजिये जामे कुटुम समाये
मैं भी भूखा ना रहूँ साधू न भूखा जाए । "

Oh God! Give me that much so that my family can sustain. Neither I remain hungry nor the guest at my door.

Kabir

     The longstanding fight between virtue and vice of human mind is well known to everyone. When the virtue dominates the vice, human shows his benevolent face to society whereas when vice becomes commanding human turns into a malevolent creature. But at times few incidents in life do change our view point of looking into various aspects of our actions and compel us to re-think on the same. Such an incident happened in the life of an auto-rickshaw driver and fortunately I became a part of the story.

               Sometime back I was in Bangalore and paid a visit to the ISKCON temple over there with some of my close friends. What a pleasant feeling it was to visit a Krishna temple after such a long time! As a child I used to visit temples very often with my mother but these days the busy schedules have taken a lot from our social and spiritual lives; in fact we have almost forgotten visiting our deities except on few special occasions when we have to bribe them for passing some exams or for clearing an interview. Prospective brides and grooms do make sure they please the God for quite a long time to get their better halves. The 350 crore ISKCON project at Bengaluru (read Bangalore), which is a blend of modern architecture with ancient spiritual consciousness, is definitely a worth visiting destination for all Krishna and Non-Krishna lovers.
                    After spending a few hours there we started for Majestic (Bengaluru Bus Depot) and tried to hire an auto. The auto fare which was 50 rupees during arrival has become 90 rupees while departure. After a heated discussion with the auto driver we settled at sixty. A young man in his late twenties was the driver in charge. I just tried to pull his leg by asking how he gets sleep at night after cheating so many commuters throughout the day and what do I see! He was really surprised and asked how I could know his actual problem. He informed that he had not been able to sleep properly for last 6 months. I found a suitable "bakra" after a long time and started my Gyaan on spiritual consciousness that his vice has piled up where as his heart is still pure which tries to awaken his dormant self-consciousness during his sleep. It seemed that my "Bol bachhan" has touched his heart and he sincerely admitted how the auto-rickshaw drivers make a profit of 400% over every rupee spent. Then he went on sharing the story of his life about how he came to Bangalore with mere 5000 rupees 8 years back, how he toiled hard to drive auto-rickshaws for a long time. With a pride note he informed that now he owns two auto rickshaws and with the money earned over years he has got all his three sisters married. When my friend curiously asked about his marriage plans, he shyly replied with a smile that without marriage itself he is looting the passengers to such an extent. What would he do to fulfill his wife’s demands once he gets married? How much can he cheat the commuters? Then I could realize why a Govt official becomes more corrupt after marriage. Only God can fulfill the demands of the creatures from Venus. It takes lot from the people of Mars when they even try to fulfil one of their desires.

               The conversation became more interesting when I asked him about his future plans. With a grin on his face he expressed his desire to serve the people of his community and uplift them. He intimated that his caste is “Curba”, which is generally a shepherd community and the people of his community are not well established. He wanted his community to become equally respectable like the other two high profiled communities, “The Lingayats” (read B.S. Yedudarappa ) and “The Gowdas” (read H.D. Devegowda ), of Karnataka . None of the hospitals and schools in Karnataka is named after people of his community; he spoke with a dejected voice. With an optimistic tone he firmly said that he has born as a common man but he does not want to die the same way. He wants to create an impact on the society by serving his people. But he is not finding any way to do so which is keeping him awake all through the nights. He told that he has read till class 7 and daily spends 10 rupees on news paper to know what is happening around the world. I was really impressed at his curiosity to gain knowledge. The discussion went on till we reach our destination.

                    Upon arrival when I started paying him off he requested that we pay him only 50 Rs, which is the actual fare, and not 60 bugs as dealt earlier. He told that he is an honest guy and does not cheat commuters much like his fellow auto drivers. In his broken Hindi language he tried to communicate that he was so overwhelmed to meet us that he could not express his feelings. He promised us that he would not cheat the commuters for some time and see whether he gets proper sleep or not. Finally I paid him 60 bugs as promised earlier but asked him to be honest to himself first and then to others. I was really touched by this driver’s honesty and confession. I could see a spark in the eyes of this young man with a lot of dreams and aspirations. I was pleased inside my heart because I could at least revitalize the honest side of the young man through our conversation.
               Gone are the days of old generation in India which is more known for its corruption than anything else. This is the new young India (Yeh hai Youngisthan , Meri Jaan ) which thinks completely different from its predecessors , which is really frustrated from the current inefficient and incumbent system, which wants to see India as a super power, which is determined to bring the change. An India where a 7th class pass auto-driver thinks about bringing a change in the society is the new face of Youngistan. This is the young blood we need to capitalize so that the drastic reformation can be realized and then India’s desire of becoming a super power would no longer be a distant dream.