Business Model of a Rickshaw-Garage

Two and a half months after quitting the ‘job’, I wasn't still fully aware of how this whole Rickshaw-Lending System worked. On what faith does a garage-owner lends his rickshaw, permanently  to a guy who is forced to take up the detested job because he badly needs money to make his both ends meet and yet be confident that he will daily pay the rent and not sell it off and run away with the money. After all, there is no GPS on a rickshaw!

So last week, when I met with the owner of the garage where I rented my first rickshaw – Raja Rickshaw Garage – I decided to satiate my curiosity.

His reply had the flavor of a Management Guru’s discourse sans the jargons, finesse and accent of course! He said that he never lends rickshaw to a complete stranger. The guy needs to be a relative/acquaintance of an existing rickshaw-puller or someone he already knows. Just like Banks, they also work on Referral System. And just like banks ask for guarantor(s) before sanctioning a loan, so do they (though, not always)!

“But I was a complete stranger so why did you lend me a rickshaw?” I interjected. “We kept your Driving Licence as security, didn't we?” he retorted. All I could do was nod!

“But how do you retrieve the rickshaw or recover the cost, if, in the worst case scenario, someone succeeds in duping you?”
“If one runs away with the rickshaw, his guarantor has to pay back.”
As he was unraveling, I was getting even more amazed at how this system works without any legal framework.

“But a rickshaw costs somewhere around 8-9 thousand, how the guarantor will pay that amount when he himself finds it hard to pay back his own rent?”
“We know that, and that’s why he doesn't have to pay in lump-sum. He pays some amount daily, say 40-50 rupees along with his rent. And the amount depends upon the condition of the rickshaw stolen, gaurantor’s economical condition and our mutual understanding. So it’s never the full amount.”
“So how many rickshaws do you lose this way in a year?”
“Around 20-30.” (he was just saying ‘yes-yes’ to any figure I said but said louder yeses to the figure 20-30, so I assume that to be closer approximation!)
“But do you ever recover your stolen rickshaw b'cuz it’s really easy to paint, renovate and then sell it off to a distant garage owner.”
“We do, 50% of the times!”
I was so astonished at his confident reply. Just look at the probability he quoted!

“But how,” I asked like a kid eager to know a magic trick.
“Here comes the role of dalaals or informers.”
Are you kidding me? Informers, in this sector? Well, Carry on. I am all ears.
“These dalaals constantly monitor out rickshaw’s moving around in the area and when they notice our rickshaw plying in some distant place, they alert us.”
“But the rickshaw has been painted and modified!”
“Doesn’t matter!!! A dalaal identifies”
(I don’t believe you but go ahead!)

“Also, since we are in the business for so long, almost all the garage owners in the adjoining area and a lot of owners far away know us and when they spot our rickshaw, they inform us. This network builds over time.”
It’s like the Star Alliance in the Aviation sector, where all the major airlines cooperate with each other to minimize losses on logistics and maximize profit.

Talking of Profit, exactly how much does a rickshaw-garage owner earns?
Let’s assume you are a garage owner. Now one rickshaw pays you Rs 50 in a day and if you are an average established Garage owner, your fleet could be as big as 100-200 rickshaws. Which means 5-10K in a day, 1.5-3 Lacs per month or 18-36 lacs per annum. That’s the scale of earning!

Are you suddenly seeing the worthlessness of your MBA degree from IIM? It’s just the beginning of despair because if you are a superstar garage owner, you could very well be sitting over an armada of 700-800 rickshaws. Please do the maths. OK don’t do it. There’s no point making yourself miserable.

Prima facie, a rickshaw garage looks a very lucrative business; so lucrative that you want to take a plunge in it right away. I used to make such off the hand calculations for rickshaw-wallas as well but I only released how tough it is to save even 100 Rupees a day let alone 500 or more. But many of my friends do save that much. As Mr Robert Schuller has rightly said, “tough time never last, but tough people do.”

But undoubtedly, it’s easier to start a rickshaw-garage business these days in Delhi than probably few years back. In Feb 2010, Delhi High Court declared impounding of Cycle-rickshaws by police or Municipal Authorities as illegal and virtually abolishing the need to have a license to pull a rickshaw. This Decision was upheld by the Supreme Court of India in April, 2012.

Earlier lakhs of rickshaws were confiscated every year and released only after extorting bribes; not any longer. “This has meant saving at least Rs.200 crore a year for rickshaw owners,” says Madhu Kishwar, the lady behind the NGO Manushi, which is behind the Court’s verdict.

So from a Garage owner’s perspective, entry barriers have been lowered. Because, if a rickshaw gets impounded, it’s the owner who coughs up the bribe to get it released and in the worst case scenario, if the rickshaw gets scrapped, that’s his loss. Although it depends how mafia-like he is and how much he can put the blame on the rickshaw-puller and extract a part of the moolah lost.

These Garage owners act as 'Banks' and 'lockers' as well for the rickshaw-wallas. My friends used to submit their daily earning with the owner in good faith and ask for it when they needed it. Of course they don’t get any interest on it.

The first time when I stayed at the garage overnight, they advised me to submit my phone at the small grocery shop they run lest it slips out of my pocket while I was sound asleep. I did. The next morning, the son of the garage owner was asking me, “why have you clicked photos of random signboards and who was that girl with you?” Apparently, I forgot to lock my phone!

There is no ledger that they maintain and there is no PHC to audit it. It’s all trust based accounting. Everything is maintained in a seemingly haphazard manner in a dirty notebook but makes perfect sense to them. But it has one drawback. They precisely know how much a rickshaw-walla is earning daily. Probably one of the reasons why they so easily raised the daily rent from Rs 40 to Rs 50!

But probably the toughest part of the business is to deal with rickshaw-wallas because most of them are not very educated and a lot of them are addicted to either hooch or ganja. You have to understand the psychology of your every rickshaw-puller and customize your approach.

You become too lenient with them and they take you for a ride, default on the rent, keep the rickshaw poorly maintained and if you become too strict (or abusive) with them you never know what extreme step they may take – junk or sell off the rickshaw, abuse you back or maybe even hit you. Going in their area to collect daily rent is even more risky for above mentioned reasons.

So if you have enough clout to encroach a road/pavement/govt. land and can arrange a mechanic (which is easy) and possess qualities of a psychologist, a lucrative business is awaiting you. It’s time to be an Entrepreneur!

Karmbhoomi Nostalgia - Revisiting North Campus

They say nothing can stop an idea whose time has come. Well, the idea to revist my Karmbhoomi (workplace is such an astronomically weak word comparatively!) was brewing in my mind for months but it's time came only yesterday.

It was International Students’ Cultural Fest (Arcus Iris 2013!) in the Girl’s Hostel at Indra Vihar on 19th to which I was invited by my friend. To put it succinctly, the fest was so-so and highly overpriced. Cumm'on, for a Delhi University Fest, 280 rupees is humongous! (of course, you can always argue that you won't mind paying even double to get only an entry in the girl's hostel, that too International, at night!)

The fest lasted till 11:30 and catching the last metro was out of question so I crashed at my friend's place in International Students House (ISH)! They don’t even ask me to sign the visitor’s register these days; my African looks also have advantages at certain places, you see!

Yesterday’s party, inadvertently  gave me this amazing opportunity to visit my erstwhile workplace again as an outsider of which I was an element just two months back. At 8 AM, While heading towards Gwyer hall for breakfast, I passed across the Delhi University Metro Station and found myself surrounded by profound memories, bright smiles and gleaming eyes; and also bombarded by the questions, “boho dino baad dikhe?” (Long time no see!) and "rickshaw chchod diya kya?" (have you left pulling rickshaw?) etc.

I stood there, right outside Gate no.4 for at least 45 minutes if not more and observed the periodic flood of students flowing out of it and getting trifurcated  – the left one flowing straight to Chchatra marg (a lot of students prefer walking), the right one into the Campus Special DTC bus (which wasn't abiding by the nationwide strike) and the middle one flowing into the Rickshaws. Of course there were some leakages to other buses, University Road and across the Ring Road!

I also observed nostalgically the ‘routines’ of my friends (and ex-colleagues) to placate their prospective customers in order to get their ‘bowl’ filled with the ‘stream water’ few minutes earlier than it would fill up naturally. After all, time is money for them.

Two months back, even I used to stand on those very same black marble stairs along with them and used to filter customers out of the crowd by reading the questions in their eyes and haste in their strides and used to throw random names likes ‘Kamla Nagar’, ‘Hindu’, ‘Miranda’ etc at them. However, I must confess that my search results were never as accurate as my friends’. I was probably Bing while they were all Googles!

When the hunger pangs overpowered nostalgia, I bade adieu to my friends – who for a moment took their eyes off the students to shake hands with me, the Metro Security Guard, and the Campus special DTC bus conductor and headed for Gwyer Hall where I would meet my best friend – Sanjay Turi, breakfast was secondary.

But when I reached there, I found only a single Rickshaw-walla whom I didn’t know. I was heartbroken.  Dejectedly, I went into the canteen and munched an Aloo-parantha at Panditji’s legendary canteen. The Parantha tasted still the same or may be since I was having them after so long, even tastier!

When I came out of the canteen the 'autumn' was over, 'spring' had arrived. Sanjay was there, so was Nageshwar and also my oldest friend – the 76 year old rickshaw puller whom I call Baba! Sanjay was chatting with the other two while sitting carelessly on his rickshaw when I emerged out of the canteen gates. A rickshaw-walla instinctively turns his head towards any human activity that happens within his field of vision even if he is not looking there actively and so did he! The moment he saw me, he exclaimed – “Gaurav bhai aap?” with a big surprise and an even bigger smile!

Though he is several years elder to me and despite repeated ‘warnings’, he refuses to be less formal than this. Anyways, we had our ‘Bharat-milaap’ moment, asked about each others’ well-being but soon he assumed my elder brother’s role. “So did you get a job somewhere?”, “this roaming around won’t serve you any purpose” were some of his questions and suggestions. His concern for me is heart-warming. We also talked about some other stuff before we were cut short by a student, apparently running late for his class. Sanjay responded to the call of duty. I couldn't meet him again in the day.

At the canteen gate, I met another rickshaw-friend, high on 'spirits', who dropped me at Law Faculty for just Rs 10; he refused to take more than that. From there, I walked till Hindu college meeting scores of Rickshaw-friends standing in the serpentine queues in front of St. Stephens and Hindu college. I should be publicly chastised for not being able to remember the names of such wonderful people who have their time, smiles and good wishes for me despite the fact that I have never done anything exceptional for them.

At Hindu college, I came to know that Dr Subramanyan Swamy, the President of Janta Party would be holding a seminar on “Policy Paralysis & corruption”. What else can a journalist ask for? But I still had one hour and so I went to meet the owner of the garage from where I rented my very first rickshaw – Raja Garage. Unfortunately he was on leave but his younger brother was there.

After the routine questions, the request of a friend of mine flashed my mind. She is a painter and expressed her interest to paint the back of rickshaws with art capturing the present zeitgeist – female foeticide, women equality, girl education and stuff like that. I shared her idea and expected him to agree and I wasn't expecting too much!

I asked him one more thing, a question that fascinated me all this while but never asked hitherto – how do you ensure that a person – especially the one who doesn't come back and park the rickshaw at the garage daily – doesn't run away or sell off the rickshaw? And if one does that in the worst case scenario, how do you retrieve the rickshaw or recover the cost, if ever? However, his answer was quite detailed and I think I should deal it in a separate blogpost.

I met the owner of my second garage as well – Gokul. He too enlightened me on his business model and also gave an NOC for the ‘Rickshaw-backside art’! Saying my goodbyes, I left the place, bought a newspaper, drank vegetable juice and took a rickshaw for Hindu college yet again.

Must say that Dr. Swamy is a great orator and entertainer. Though I didn't agree with a lot of things he spoke, I couldn't help but laugh and clap at his wit, sarcastic humor and clever jibes at the Gandhi Family, PM Manmohan Singh, A Raja and St. Stephens college!

The session was over and so was my extended stay at Delhi University. But one last thing was remaining – keema paranthas at Delhi School of Economics' canteen. I was told that they are awesome but never really got the chance to try them in those three months as a rickshaw-walla. In fact, despite working in the campus for decades, hardly any of friends has ever entered a college!

But sadly, I was misinformed. There was no keema parantha there and the next best thing available was Mutton Dosa for Rs 35! I had exactly 34 rupees in my pocket but the canteen-walla was generous enough to give me 1 rupee discount. I devoured it! Worth the money, certainly worth a try however not exceptionally good.

With not a single rupee left in my pocket I walked till the metro station. This artificial ‘bankruptcy’ acted as the ‘finishing touch’ to my nostalgic trip to North Campus. I recalled those days when I had to pull the rickshaw for a good 1-2 hours empty stomach to even earn enough for a modest breakfast. (it wasn't a regular feature though, just in case you are thinking I am trying to magnify my misery-ful experience)! I had my Debit card in my bag with a high probability of having few hundreds if not thousands in it but I chose not to withdraw any cash to savor that carefree lightness for as long as possible!

The Happiest Day of My 'Career'

And you thought that the project was over! Well for me, yes but for you (if you care to read in the first place) it's not gonna end so soon. Because there are still a lot of experiences stored in my memory (surprising indeed!) and many more written in my little diary that I would like to share here.

But today, after a long long time (12 days to be precise) I would like to share a good news. In fact, I can easily anoint 12th Dec as the happiest day of my entire Ricikshaw-walla life, if not the entire life. I also realized that one must not give up the pursuit of happiness because some things have a habit of giving you a delayed gratification - in my case, the delay was by 12 days. And I was lucky to get it only when I egged on it.

I don't know how many times I have mentioned in my blogposts about the utter chaos one witnesses at the Vishwavidhyalaya Metro Station. Its an ideal place to make the worst opinion about a rickshaw-walla which sticks with you for a lifetime, tough to be overridden by any pleasant experience subsequently.

Ironically none of my rickshaw-friends like it, nor want to do this "aao-ji aao-ji" ritual but collectively they all are involved in it. Its like the current scenario of Indian Media. Ask any individual Media house about their  views on Paid News, Private treaties, Advertorials, Blackmailing, Editorial bias etc and they all banish it in the harshest possible manner but then it's also a mystery how a minister gets favorable coverage in Newspapers and TV channels before a major election despite embroiled in half a dozen corruption cases if not murder and rape, how some very pressing issues are suppressed while most other never make it to main-stream media!

As an ex-rickshaw-walla, I was catching up with all my friends and colleagues at my favorite adda - Gwyer Hall Hostel when this gentleman came. Its a shame that I don't know his name but taking into account his seniority and the profound knowledge, wisdom and experience he has, the name that comes to my mind is "Bhishma Pitamah". So let me call him Bhishma sir! :)

He enlightened me on the freak accident that happened two days back with a DU girl sitting in a rickshaw and the huge fuss in the morning between a Traffic Cop and the Metro Security Guard at the Station. But we soon digressed to our pet peeve - falling income and 'rule of the Jungle' at the Metro Station.

Its not that nothing has ever been done to bring some order among rickshaw pullers. Can't say much about the measures taken since the inception but a lot of attempts have been made during my own 'tenure'- by metro security guards, by traffic cops, by local Police (and once by me as well). But the status quo never changed and even if it did for a while under the force of a 'danda', it quickly regained its dubious equilibrium.

But today was a different day. There was no external force but and internal resolve to change. Championed by one of their own men - very sensible and highly respected! My presence, probably acted as a catalyst (if anything at all) for this 'endothermic' reaction. An endothermic reaction consumes heat and cools down its surrounding!

One of the most prominent feature (if not a cornerstone) of Democracy is - equal opportunity for everyone to do or aspire anything. In this respect, Metro station is not a very democratic place. The Campus-special buses are the first among equals. The entire width of the exit gate is panned by the bus while the rickshaws are relegated far away from the gates whenever line system is cracked down with brute force. Otherwise the rickshaws are simply juxtaposed with the buses creating the much-talked-about chaos and leaving almost no space for a person to go across the road.

So once 'Bhishma' sir sold the idea to his colleagues and got them on-board I went ahead and talked with the Bus Driver. It was one of the most sensible talks I ever had with a bus driver. We hardly disagreed with each other's opinions. He welcomed the idea of a disciplined line and agreed "in-principle" to my request to halt the bus only till middle of the exit gate and leaving the other half free for people. The deal was sealed when the Manger of this Special Bus service also agreed over the phone to my request! I gave a personal guarantee that the extra space thus created wont be cluttered by more rickshaws bringing everything back to square one.

The rickshaw line started from the other end of the gate giving them a fighting chance to be spotted along with the Bus and the Auto the moment a person comes out of the gate. Now it's the person's prerogative which one does he chooses. An equal opportunity to all.

The metro security guard also volunteered to assist in the implementation of the newly conceptualized discipline. He monitored that the proper sequence is followed, the free space remains free and nobody enters the metro station to woo a customer leaving his rickshaw unmanned.

It was going great. The rickshaw-wallas were happy because they were getting customers without belittling themselves, the bus-wallas weren't complaining either and the people were smiling too because nobody was pouncing on them. Everybody had a last laugh! :)

But is that sufficient reason for me to call it the happiest day? NO.

The reason why it's the happiest day is - the experiment survived the test of the time! It came into existence at around 3 PM. But when I returned to the Metro station at around 6 PM, the system was still in place WITHOUT THE SUPERVISION OF THE GUARD! 3 hrs might not see long enough to you but trust me, it takes them just 3 seconds to return to their old ways. After all, that's their comfort zone! But everybody was still following the line and peacefully taking 'sawaris' as per their order.

This was unprecedented. A truly WOW moment for me. And that's why it's the happiest day of my entire rickshaw-walla career. A long cherished happiness which came long after my "retirement" !

The Final Day (hopefully not!)

Justin Timberlake's famous song from the album "Future Sex" - what goes around...comes around - is playing in my head right now which is occasionally shuffled with an equally awesome "Life in a Metro" song - Alvida.

Because, if everything goes according to the plan and promise, 30th November should be my last day of being a Rickshaw-walla! Its a very emotional moment in many respects and as it happens with most of the things in life, the wave of emotions are often very weak on the 'D day' but hit much harder and make you nostalgic long after the day has gone.

The only silver lining is that I am a horrible planner but the dark cloud is that I am not a good ditcher! I promised my mom on the day of my homecoming (21 Nov) that I will end this project by November end and now it would be very difficult to give up on her. I guess I need to talk about my plans with my parents. If they understand, I hope to write a similar blogpost without the bracketed words on the new year day. Inshallah!

Its very easy to tender resignation for a job which you do only for money, a job in which you complain burnouts despite sitting in an AC chamber the entire day, a job in which you celebrate weekends more than weekdays ... oh wait, i guess it's not easy, else 90% of India (if not world) would be jobless!

But its very hard to bid adieu a job which you took up because you wanted to do it. Where there was no external pressure but internal motivation. Where you even worked on Diwali because that's the best way you could find to celebrate the festival of lights!

Just like Diwali, I tried to make my final day special in all possible ways and to the extent my job allowed. Which means I couldn't hug or at least thank from the bottom of my heart each an every rickshaw-friend of mine for giving me these awesome three month because it would seem so weird. But I did make it a point to meet as many of my friends as possible and shake hands with them or at least do that patented salute - raising the right hand partially with a gentle nod of the head and ear-to-ear smile - from a distance while crisscrossing each-other while pulling the rickshaw.

I tried to reach early. This is exams season in DU, and the exams start by 9:30. Hence there is a mad rush of students from 8:45 to 9:15. I arrived at the metro station at 9 AM - like a drop in the ocean of students. But by the time I reached the garage, picked my rickshaw and reached the station again, it was 9:25 already. The ocean had dried up. The Metro station is very unforgiving - if you are late you are late. Aren't there pleasant ways to learn lessons on punctuality?

There was an Indo-German conference on semiconductors going on in 'Faculty of Arts'! Goes without saying that I wanted to attend it despite the grave risk involved of dying due to boredom! The security guard of Arts Faculty has some special regards for me so when he saw me, he shook hands with me, talked for a while and asked me to park my rickshaw in the vacant space next to the main gate. Of course it's not allowed. So I asked him, "would this put you in trouble?" To which he replied quirkily, "I will sort it out. If somebody will object, I will say, 'sahab aaye hain seminar attend karne'! (A gentleman has come to attend the seminar!)

Hours passed by. Light gave way to darkness and warmth gave in to unfriendly cold. My friends who still pull rickshaw in a shirt start feeling the chill by 5ish in the evening; more if they have to wait for a sawari because standing idle cools them down further. But something warm was also brewing alongside - a plan to celebrate my last day !

My best friend, Sanjay, knew that it was probably my last day, and hence readily agreed to this impromptu party plan. But before we could crystallize it, he had to leave for Indira Vihar (girls Hostel canteen) with a box of oranges for a meager sum of 30 Rupees. I was so infuriated that I thought I would slap that 'Honda city b**tard' for paying so low and Sanjay as well for accepting that money. He deserved Rs 50!

In the meantime I talked with Tomas - an exchange student from France, once my sawari and now a very good friend. It didn't took him long to offer me a beer when he learned that it was my last day. His hostel-mate Kishan from Bangladesh also joined us and an awesome 'threesome' was on!

But Sanjay hadn't dropped the plan and neither had I. So like a witch hopping clubs on Halloween night, I was hopping my own farewell parties on my last working day! But I wasn't complaining. I reached my friend's 'villa' at around 9 PM and he was already done with cooking rice. I must tell you that he is a very nice cook. Once I even asked him why doesn't he work in one of the hostel messes and he said, "the life there is very restricted, much like a prisoner!" Wow, I never thought rickshaw-pulling had that huge an advantage over a regular job. 'Freedom to work' should be made a fundamental right, I guess!

Not prolonging the climax further, I should tell you that we bought 1kg fish and had a sumptuous dinner. I simply love fish and to have it on my last day with my special rickshaw-friends was certainly a memorable experience.

Talking of climax, I recall that there are few condoms available in the market that come with the promise of giving you 'extra time'. I wonder if there is something available out there for me to prolong this 'climax' and give me some extra time!

The Epic Speech

Today, in the evening few DU students came to conduct a survey on Rickshaw-wallas. They claimed to be doing it on behalf of Govt. of India! This exercise was part of their project at the end of which they would send their recommendations based on which the government will make welfare policies for us. Wow, finally the government talking some cognizance of the Rickshaw-wallas. Sounds so Utopian!

But this is just a frivolous introduction, the real stuff is the speech of this legendary rickshaw-walla whose name I don't know.

The ritual of form-filling was going on at its full swing when I reached the Metro station. I had no idea and hence I asked, "what's going on?" and what followed was this epic speech. He said -

It's some kind of a survey. What survey man... it's yet another attempt of the government to rob us poor of our livelihood (gareeb ke pet par laat). These people promise us a parking lot. hah... they will give us a parking lot! Bullsh*t. A similar survey was conducted a few years back promising us the world, they started the Campus-Special Bus instead! This time around, they would probably start Helicopters!

(Unlike U-special buses which ply on specific routes, the Campus-special is a circular bus service from Vishwavidyalaya Metro Station touching most of the colleges. It charges a flat fare of Rs 10 for any destination. It came into existence approximately 2 years back and has considerably eaten up the earnings of a rickshaw-walla)

They ask us how much do we earn. Now if we tell them honestly that we earn around Rs 400, the govt's eyes will go wide immediately. *a rickshaw-walla earns so much in a day* instead of doing something for us, the first thing they will do is "how to stop them from earning a respectable income, how to keep them in perennial poverty."

Aisa kyun? (The honesty and conviction with which he asked me that question was quite moving and that's why I put the words as it is instead of translating them. It means - why is it so?)

What have they got against a rickshaw-walla? Are we stealing or robbing somebody? Is earning an honest living a crime? This metro security guard beats us up?
Aisa kyun hota hai?

A man (i guess he said FAT!) gets down from the bus and screams "oye rickshaw" and the rickshaw-walla takes him on board. A bus drops him on the bus stand, Metro drops him at the Metro station but where does a rickshaw drops him? ... on the stairs of his house. If there were a way to take rickshaw from his stairs to his room, a rickshaw might well have dropped him on his bed! and yet people abuse a rickshaw-walla?
Kyun bhai?

When a person bleeds on the road, a car doesn't stop to help him. You call just once to a rickshaw-walla and he takes that guy to Hindu Rao Hospital (the nearest govt. hospital of that area). He doesn't charge you a fortune, even in case of extreme emergencies. He saves lives. And yet people have least amount of respect for us!
Aisa kyun?

He took a long pause when another colleague snapped, "ho gaya?" while pressing a button of his mobile phone. He was apparently recording his speech! Worth recording indeed. Everybody burst into laughter.

You know what I want to ask the government? I want to ask, "why this distance sir? why this indirect path?" Survey...delay...recommendations....more delay... committees formed....eternal delay.
You hold MCD elections, you hold Assembly elections, for what? If you really care, just send down that representative to listen to us. We will not only let him know our ailment but the medicine to cure it as well. We don't expect to get the exact dosage but the suffering would certainly subside even if half of the prescription is met.

But please don't pull this wool of survey over our eyes.

The Homecoming of a Rickshaw-walla!

Who says courts only prolong matters? Sometimes, they expedite them as well although these are "Rarest of the rare" occasions!

Today I had to go against my will to Dwarka distt. courts as part of a family land-dispute case (dont worry I havn't filed a case against my dad for my share! :P ). I have realized that courts are like your best friends. They don't give a s**t when you are hanging around with them but they miss you a lot when you are not not there. So much so that they issue warrants, sometimes non-bailable, to fetch you!

At 10AM I was at the court where I came face to face with my mom - first time since the news broke of me being a rickshaw-walla 4 days ago.
She asked me to explain. I declined (as I believed there was nothing to explain beyond the Navbharat Times news-report.
She persisted with some emotional-atyaachaar (main teri maa hoon, agar mujhe nahin samjhaayega to kise samjhaayega? et al)
I tried to explain. she didn't understand... once...twice. I gave up.
She asked me to explain once more - my motive, my objective, my aspirations.
I tried again. finally some ice was broken, some dark clouds were scattered.
it turned out that she was particularly miffed for two reasons -
1) she didn't know until when this 'experiment' will continue. the report didn't mention that "I hope to end it by November"!
2) the report mentioned "Girls in DU ask me that I don't look like a rickshaw-walla", alluding as if only girls ask me that ...further alluding that I am doing it to score some brownie points with girls ! ;)

The court hearing was over with the usual practice of giving another date and my mom said, "tu ek baar aa to sahi ghar" (which sent chill down my spine). I asked her to explain what she meant. She didn't.

Interestingly, my Dad was quite chilled out all this while, In fact, he hasn't even once asked me what the F*** I was doing and why. While returning from court my mom noticed my cracked heels n lumped feet and said to my dad "look what he has done to his feet" and he said, "so what?" ! hahhaha... that was awesome! I guess I should gift him a bottle of Heinekin ! ;)

Nevertheless, I picked my cycle (whom I missed the most) from the parking of the metro station and went home. I wasn't asked any further question, not locked up in a dark room nor thrashed with a wet chappal ! :P
On the contrary, I was give a sumptuous lunch! for someone who had to borrow money this morning to buy even a Parle G (not exaggerating even an iota), that was pure bliss. The party didn't end there.

I slept for three hours (although I intend to sleep only 30 minutes!) in a cushy bed, with a soft furry blanket and a pillow... yes, a pillow and not my bag stuffed with worn clothes! trust me, a pillow is a luxury. Infact, planning commission would come up with far saner policies based on "Pillow-line" rather than poverty line!

I was home and I was doing what I do best - screw up my time on Facebook! also, read random stuff online and occasionally write a blog. I was back to the world to which I had practically said goodbye for good. In fact, I made some initial investments (which swallowed all my savings) for my new life - a towel (Rs 40), a tooth brush (11), a toothpaste (10), a soap (10), washing powder sachet (2), and a makeup kit (Rs 5 vaseline!). In the coming days, I was planning to buy some Lux Cozis (or even anonymous ones from the roadside vendor) instead of Jockeys and that was cringing my heart (and something else as well!) the most!

I was also preparing myself to bathe with ultra-cold water for the rest of the winters. (although not bathing for most of the season was a partial solution). In fact, I never knew I was such a meticulous planner before these three & a half days. I was making lists, balancing my needs (not wants) with my resources. I was planning ahead...weeks ahead. Although, all the three days I ended up a nillionaire !

Sadly, all that futuristic planning has now gone down the drain. I am back to my home. a place which looks too plush to me now. 3 months back, I would have made a million excuses to dissuade you from visiting it!

So, it was the homecoming of a rickshaw-walla after only 3 & a 1/2 days of 'Vanvaas' (or RainBsera Vaas as my friend puts it)! Should we light some lamps or burn some firecrackers to celebrate? Naah, chuck it. Lets go green! ;)

Being a "Celebrity" - effects & side-effects

the Internet charges are too steep here so I have to write it quickly, So apologies for some not-up-to-the-mark blogpost this time. (As if I was writing literary masterpieces earlier!)

I was in Chandigarh when I received the call from my Mom with the opening words, "Chandigarh main bhi rickshaw chala raha hai?". I couldn't say anything, I was just laughing. But she wasn't amused at all. She followed it up with "Achi bhat piti hai hamari". I dont know how to translate those words but a close-enough meaning is - "you have demeaned us to no extent". I wasn't surprised though; the blast was impending. 

But her call was quite late in the evening, the string of calls started right in the morning. With every call I was faced with the dilemma - to pick or not to pick ... cuz I was in Roaming and my balance was low ! But I guess price of coming out as arrogant was higher that the price of the call, so I picked.

I was back in Delhi the next morning at 6:30 and I was on the job at 7:30. on other days, I would have earned handsomely if I had come that early but alas.... it was Sunday that day!

I was on my way to the garage, barely outside the Metro station, when I noticed a beautiful girl staring at me! If the matter was restricted to just staring, I might not have noticed... I look weird enough to be stared! But she was smiling too; that was startling! So I asked her, "do we know each other?" and she said, "I read the article about you in NBT". She introduced herself and when I introduced myself, she said, "I know"!!!!

Wherever I went - the garage, the metro station,Kamla Nagar, Girls Hostel, Stephens college gate, Gwyer Hall Canteen, Ande-walla ...... the article followed. If nothing else, I realized the readership of NBT yesterday!

But I was in no mood to go home that day, courtesy that candid talk with my mom yesterday. So I was desperately searching for a place to stay. My friend at Model town was out of station and my current garage wasn't as cozy as my previous one, so sleeping under the sky wasn't an option.

I once saw a "Rainbasera" (a place where destitutes can stay at nominal price) in Kamla Nagar but was utterly dissapointed to see a big lock on its gate. But from there I came to know about another one in Malkaganj. The information was right and in Kabir Basti, Malkaganj, I did find one.

Afte spotting my refuge, I was going back to my garage to park my rickshaw when I spotted a little boy walking beside me with a piece of paper. He said, "I am reading about you". I was able to make sense of what he was saying when looked at the paper-cutting with my photo. It was simply an awesome feeling. I asked the boy to sit in my rickshaw and read the story for me since I hadn't seen it myself. He read it for a while and then got off the rickshaw bidding adieu. Wow, if start of the day was bright, then the end of the day was probably brighter than Diwali!

The Experience of spending a night at "Raibasera" is a story in itself so I shall share that with you in a separate post.

but the next morning (ie today) I got a call from my mom again. She asked my location .... exact location (I am not sure if she could track me via GPS!).

"Hindu College"

"you are still pulling the rickshaw!"

"yes mom, that's what I do, I am sure u know it by now"

"why? couldn't you find any other job"

"if you are still not clear why I am doing this after reading that article, I don't know how to answer your why"

"us article se to tune hamara mazak banaya hai" (you have only humiliated us through that article)

I am totally disillusioned now. Facing a dilemma again - to return or not return to a place where people feel humiliated because of me.