The best and the most important invention by mankind was the invention of fire. It was catalytic in growth of civilization or at least that’s what we read in text books. Anyways, Raju did not have the chance to read text books. He did not even have the chance to go to school. Being the elder brother of 3 sisters, hailing from a poor laborer family, somewhere in Jharkhand, he did not had the chance to experience the childhood either. As a kid he had to work in the local shops as helper. When he was 17 he came to Delhi with few of his village people to work as human labor.
The contractor of the construction site where he worked spotted him, and found him suitable for rickshaw pulling. The contractor had around 30 rickshaws plying on the roads of Rohini. Raju was supposed to give 300 rupees per day to the contractor rest was his earnings.
In his first year as rickshaw puller he was 19 years old. He started in the month of April. He learnt the ropes quickly. He could spot those people who were gullible enough so that he can overcharge them. He knew all the short cuts. With his jolly nature he quickly made some regular customers. Rohini sector 28 was a bit far from the main road and in the morning time many people took rickshaw to go the bus stand. He used to take at least 6-7 customers daily to the bus stop. At noon when others used to take rest, he used to carry on working. The crackling mid noon heat of Delhi is something which you got to experience before you can imagine how it is like. He used to charge 5-10 rupees extra because of the heat and that was mostly okay with the customers. And Raju managed to do all these with a smile on his face. Often he would break up in a song while pulling the rickshaw. He was liked by passengers and fellow rickshaw pullers alike. He managed to earn enough to pay the daily cut to the contractor, money for his own use and he even managed to save money, which he used to money order back at home. His mother was saving for the marriage of his 3 younger sisters.
He was in general a disciplined guy. Though he was chatty with his customers, but he was not pulled in to the trappings of big city. He did not drink, nor did he have any “other” bad habits. Only addiction he had was for marigold flowers. He used to pick up thrown away garlands from the road and used to keep one flower from the garland in his shirt pocket. He said back at village they had marigold plant right in front of their home. His mother used to tend to it. he said this flower is like a blessing from his mother.
In the month of October Raju earned a lot. It was the festive month. Almost whole day people can be seen going in and out of sector 28 to the bus stop. Raju was happy. His mother at village was very happy.
Things started getting tricky when winters started approaching. Earlier he used to sleep in his rickshaw by the road side oblivious to the mosquitoes. But the chill in the morning was more pestering than the mosquitoes. You can’t just ignore it. He managed to get a cheap blanket from a shop. He used to light a small fire in a corner in the bus stand and along with few other rickshaw pullers he used to spend the night.
It was the month of January, and western disturbances came early that year, resulting in rains. Delhi was already shivering, now it almost stopped. Well, at least that’s what appeared to Raju. His customers decreased. Earlier he used to make 100 rupees in the morning hour itself now he hardly made 50/-. The daily cut of the contractor was still the same. Raju was all alone in this city. He did not have any other support. His only support was earning enough to pay the contractor and save some for himself and to send to village. But now he was crunched…severely crunched..
It was raining intermittently since yesterday evening. Last night was horrible for Raju. He was alone by the fire in the corner of the bust stand. Occasionally the rain would stop but then a wind will start blowing, which threatened the fire and also brought a chill to the bones. Raju was practically trembling in his blanket. He kept putting in more and more plastics and papers in the fire hoping to somehow survive the night.
Next morning he was the only rickshaw outside sector 28. It was drizzling. First customer came. Raju was not feeling well. He caught cold and was sneezing. When the person asked him to go to bus stand he refused. But when the guy offered him 30 rupees for the route which was just 10 rupees in normal times, Raju could not say no.
He took the guy to bus stand. From the bus stand, he got another passenger who offered 35/-. The passengers were ready to pay anything just to get to their destination quickly in this weather and there was not a single rickshaw other than Raju’s. 20-30 rupees extra was not a big deal for them, but for Raju it was surreal.
It was drizzling whole day but by afternoon it started raining. One of raju’s regular customer got down at the bus stop. He saw Raju and asked if he’s willing to go till sector 28. Raju was ready. Though by now he was coughing, whole day he did not got time to eat even. Rather the thela from which he used to eat kulche was not there may be due to the rains. The passenger boarded the rickshaw. He got off at the gate of sector 28, paid Raju and hurried off towards his flat. Raju took the 50 rupees and put it inside the plastic pouch where he had kept today’s earnings. Then Raju got down from the rickshaw, took off his shirt and twisted it so as to squeeze the water out of it then he again put it on and moved his rickshaw towards bus stand.
Next morning was a bright January morning. The sun was out after a long time. When raju’s fellow mate came to the bus stop in the early morning. He saw Raju lying in the corner in front of a dead fire. His knees were almost touching his chin. On his blanket they could see some patches of blood and cough. In his hands he had the plastic pouch containing the money and a marigold flower. His face still had that faint hint of smile. The rickshaw pullers got into a fight as to who will take the money. 2 hours later raju’s body was taken away by MCD.
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