Wednesday, September 22, 2010

The city of hills and the sea - II


16 Jyotsna

My experiences with Mumbai have always been fodder for contemplation and debate whilst sitting at the narrow kitchen window of my apartment we now famously call ‘16Jyotsna’. 

‘16Jyotsna’ is so popular now that it’s a landmark for the delivery boys of my area. They happily deliver whatsoever, ever since my roommate has taught me to tip them adequately and I might add deservingly – given they religiously deliver the parcel all drenched in the heavy rains -- though we still debate whether tipping off waiters/delivery boys is a bribe or not.
 

‘16 Jyotsna’ is a one-BHK apartment (as per Mumbai’s standards of space, I can firmly say it’s luxuriously spacious). The abode of four young (well if you still consider 25+ to be young age, or else my next argument would be… we are young at heart!!!) bachelors. But this experience is not about my apartment or its residents. It’s about people -- endless in number and excitingly varied in behavior -- who ring our doorbell (annoyingly sometimes bang the door).

That Saturday evening had a perfect story-like setting…

The drizzling rain was falling to the ground in ever changing frequency. I was at home on a weekend - which was rare - even more so…Alone. After extending my afternoon nap into a full-fledged sleep, I was still lying in bed, lights switched off; looking out the window at the fading sunlight going off completely.
Such evenings at ‘16 Jyotsna’ have been utilized by me, to make those long weekend phone calls to my beloved family members scattered all across the country. I had just finished speaking with Maa. She informed me that her knee problem had re-aggravated and had been taken to a doctor. Sometimes it feels sad that despite all the love you have for your parents, you cannot actually do much, beyond sending them a few gifts once in a while. In my heart, I thanked my cousins who are there with my parents to help them out in such situations.

 With these thoughts on my mind, I was tossing in bed when the doorbell rang. Replying to hundreds (Ok… that’s an exaggeration!) of courier boys and bill collectors throughout the day, I was fed up of answering the doorbell.

“Not now, yaar!!” I groaned, as I dragged myself to the door when bell rang again.

Standing behind the grills of my door was an old lady. She looked caged, not though by the grills of my door but her own world of worries. She was carrying a few papers in her right hand and some money, clutched in her left. When I opened the grills, she felt assured that I would listen and so she said hopefully “I need help.” This was followed by silence, lasting for almost thirty seconds.

Finally I asked “How?”

“My husband is hospitalized in Rajawadi. Doctor says I need to buy these medicines,” she said extending the medical transcripts to me “as soon as possible. I don’t have sufficient money. Please help.”

No pretense. No blessings. No formalities of begging.

In the midst, of the festive Ganesh Pooja -- the biggest religio-cultural extravaganza of Mumbai -- which operates mostly on the money collected as “Chanda” from residents and donations received from various legal/illegal funds; here was this old lady at my door, trying to collect some “Chanda” for herself and not the Almighty Lord. How do I decide whether her case was genuine or she was just another thug who had mastered her art so well that it appeared real?

 I gave her long stare and then asked a few routine questions to appear as if I was inquiring about the case in detail.

She informed me that she had visited over a 100 houses since afternoon and could arrange for Rs. 850. The total cost of medicine was approximately Rs. 1500. She had Rs. 500 with herself. So she needed only Rs. 150.

Hmmm… not a great amount when you book a Multiplex ticket. But, when it has to go as pure alms and when you doubt the intentions of the recipient, it appears too much. I wasn’t sure what to do. It took almost 5 minutes of an intense internal conflict reflected through myriad facial expressions to reach that decision. Well, the decision was made, I asked her to wait there and returned to my room. Now the question was, how much? Looking into my wallet I calculated --

Assuming that her every word was true, I began carefully debating over the following --

She has been going around collecting money since afternoon which meant for almost six hours by then.
She has covered almost a 100 houses and managed to collect 850 bucks. That meant she will have to visit at least 20 more houses to gather the remaining Rs 150.Judging by her looks, she must have been over 50 years. All buildings in the vicinity have at least 3-4 floors. If she was climbing up and down all these buildings to get this money – considering her age also - can I believe that her problem is genuine?

I recalled what
 Maa once told me that she would only visit me in Mumbai when I change my residence since it’s very problematic for her to climb up to the third floor.

 And with this thought, all efforts towards any further reasoning vanished. I pulled out two hundred rupee notes and gave it to her. I tried to smile at her but since it didn’t come naturally so I scrapped the attempt. Just as I was about to close the door, she took out a fifty rupee note from her bag and extended it towards me, “Son, I need only 150 rupees. This will suffice. Thank you.”

I didn’t say anything and shut the door. But I stood there, behind the closed door, just for a while, feeling guilt and shame. I could hear the loud speakers playing “Bollywood-ised” prayers at the pandals of Lord Ganesh.

As I stood there, I recalled a similar evening from the recent past.

There were 4-5 teenage boys standing in front of me; the tallest and probably the oldest, with a checkbook; the shortest holding a miniature of the Lord Ganesh. I gave them a questioning look, to which the tallest guy replied, “We are from Navyuvak Ganesh Pooja Mandili. Like every year, this year too, we are organizing Ganesh Pooja in the society. We are here to collect funds from all residents.”

“But I don’t come for
 Pooja.”

“You can always come. It’s in your area. You should come. After all, almost every resident in this lane, and even some from lane no. 3 have given us funds,” he paused for a while to study if there was any
change in my expression. Finding none, he continued his list of justifications, “moreover…we don’t just take money from you, we also give you a receipt. So it’s very authentic. See!” He flashed his receipt book at me. I gestured my disinterest in the book.

This time, the kid with the Ganesh idol tried his luck, “You see sir… if you don’t support us… how will we be able to celebrate this festival, which is for no one but the Lord Ganesh? If we don’t, the Lord will be angry with the residents of this area.”

And then, all of them took turns to persuade me.

I smiled, amused by their attempt, went inside and took out a 50 rupee note from my wallet.

When I handed them the note, there was grimace on their faces. Something they wanted to say, but couldn’t. They took the money and wrote me a receipt. While handing the receipt to me, the tallest guy finally spoke his mind, “No one gives such small amounts. We generally don’t take less than Rs. 101. Anyways, come and collect your prasad for sure.”

 A few days later, while returning from work, I saw a few of those same boys, all drunk, dancing to the tunes of modernized “aartis”.

Sitting at my kitchen window, I am still trying to figure out…

 “What decides genuineness? The receipt or refund?”

P.S.: This blog was entered in the Scribe Hunt by The Youth Express ( http://theyouthexpress.com/) and has been adjusted as the 2nd runner up in "Personal Experiences" Category. The top image is downloaded and cropped from the Facebook page of the same.

To read other posts from The City of Hills and the Sea, click below:

21 comments:

Amit Gaurav Pandey said...

Yeah that 16 Jyotsna, missing it a lot. But frankly speaking the fourth member, i.e me, always stays away n pays the full rent ;)

Wait for the fourth young member, very soon I will be their. Before that please finish of all d len dens :)

Saurabh Kumar Gupta said...

m gonna publish this link on my FB. May I?

Rohit Kumar said...

@Saurabh... Sure buddy!

Devesh said...

Hey Rohit,

This is super stuff. I guess you just pulled out your best story :)
I really liked how it starts, builds up and ends. Every young man who isn't from Bombay and lives here for work can relate to it. Deepak Rana had a very similar experience during Ganpati as well.
Coming back to the blog post, its really well written. I would however, liked it more if there was no humor with-in brackets. I believe if you are writing something so serious, which should give goose-bumps to people in like 2 minutes of reading ... you shouldn't put good humor in it. It is a personal opinion, give it a thought.

Rohit Kumar said...

@Devesh... Thanx mate! Point taken.

swet said...

:) really liked this one! kinda stays with you.... Im glad you gave her 200 dost!

Amna Mehwish said...

Hi,
I just accidently come across your blog while researching for blogs about migrant women artists..
really like your writing, would love to know if you plan to continue with this blog. Can I share your blog with my friends?
Please write more :)
Cheers
Amna

Rohit Kumar said...

@ Amna

Thank you for your +ve feedback. Though I have not planned to "continue" this blog, certainly it is not going to be offloaded in near future... please feel free to share with your friends. Would love to have their feedback as well..

srideo Khare said...

Hey Rohit,

really nice one :)

The point here is not whether you trusted that old lady or not at first... you have done what you think is right at that time... and i think that's the feeling of a kind of satisfaction that you get in the end...

The only problem occurs when you help some one n later you came to know that you've been fooled and you cant avoid that... thats' the world dude...

16 Jyotsna.... if i'm not wrong... this was the first place I landed up in Mumbai :) when kicked out from TCS accommodation.. :)

Rohit Kumar said...

@ Sri.. haan dost.. yehi wo jagah hai :)

Chetan said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Chetan said...

so far...I think this is the best one...
Well written...but I would recommend that you use more vocab to give it the feel and intensity that you want to...
Being a madu...i liked the lines where you mention the calculations u made.. ;)
But a really good read...and can relate to both the incidents very distinctly...reading it stir the values that I hold close...quite gripping.....the personal element that you bring to the story, i think, is your best strength...
I would like to see more of conviction in the end of such stories instead of a question mark...conviction in what transpired through the thought process...
Brilliant...keep going...long way to go my friend..

Sourav Kundu said...

Brilliant Stuff!!! Second best to the one where an old school mate of yours (who's in the army now) met you in the Mumbai Local train...

But you leave a very important question... what is genuine... a receipt or a refund... and its not a question that can be answered with a mere few words...

Rohit Kumar said...

@ Chetan & Saurav.. thanx guys!

zarna jain said...

Hey .. i really like this one.. nice story.. the one most of us can relate..
Also.. i agree we r forced to gve chandas to the festivals.. n we knw how they r used.. but u made the right decision by giving 200.. i mean atleast if it was genuine u helped.. if not.. it was the festival chandas which we gave..
i think u will never regret this decision :):)
very nicely written.. personal touch / stories always helps to relate..

NanVentura said...

I know very well what they suspect that someone slams the door asking for something to be sincenro most times I take heart, because I had given my money to transport someone, it bothered who was beside me saying that person would use to drink. Finally, as our friend saw the youth lying just having this fear, the more you prove that there really still people in need and sincere that will knock the door asking for help, and will of each, help or not.

mystic-soul said...

last line is a good punch!!!

mystic-soul said...

Posted link to this story on my blog...(I hope you don't mind).

Rohit Kumar said...

@ Mystic... hey.. yeah it cool wid me... keep reading!

Madhukar said...

Very heart-warming.

Got your link from http://zindagi-ki-diary.blogspot.com/

Mk

Happy Feet said...

Beautifully written Rohit... A lot of times I am also left with the same question and then I think to myself, who am I to judge someone! I am still not sure of the answer.
Really liked the way to put your points across!