The times we live in

Sharing two short stories which characterize the society we live in today’s age. It is not an assessment or a judgement on any community, nation, political party or group of people, but does push us to reflect on ourselves.

As always, both stories are inspired by true events I was personally witness to.

1. The Good Days

Driving back home from work, Nitin stopped for chai at his usual place. He told Ramesh bhaiyya, the chai stall owner to make him his usual cup of tea – less milk, no sugar, to be served in a kulhad. As he was waiting for his tea, he saw that a young man, possibly in his twenties, was standing next to a small fire he had created right next to the tea stall. Nitin went to him and asked him why he was contributing the the pollution levels in the city. AQI (a measure for air quality) had shot up above 400, almost touching severe levels. The man replied, “I am sure I will die of the cold and hunger far before the pollution kills me, sir”. It was only then that Nitin noticed the man’s tattered clothes barely covering his body. The temperature was hovering around 5 degrees Celsius. He was crouched above the fire, maneuvering the twigs in a desperate effort to keep his body warm. Nitin got him a cup of tea and some biscuits, and on inquiring more he learnt that the man had lost his job a month back – the logistics company he worked for did not need his service any longer as they had lost their biggest customer to the ongoing economic slowdown.

“Ache din aayenge”, they said.

2. Progress for Everyone

It was Saturday morning. Twenty eight year old Aarav reached his barber at 11 am to get his haircut and shave – he had been coming to this salon since he was four. Ashfaq bhai spotted him immediately and beckoned him to come and sit at the vacant chair. As Ashfaq bhai took out the shaving foam and started applying it on Aarav’s beard, Aarav asked him why was MTV on and not the Sri-Lanka Pakistan cricket test match. Aarav had grown up watching a lot of cricket at this very shop, and he knew every barber in the salon was a huge cricket buff. They would watch almost each and every live game, irrespective of the countries involved. Sometimes they would also watch Ranji trophy matches to see the upcoming talent – Aarav  felt this group of barbers had probably spotted the talent of the likes of Ravindra Jadeja far before national selectors had! “No Aarav Bhai, last time we were playing a match involving Pakistan some young men came to our shop, started shouting at us and asked us to loudly say ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’. We did not even realize it was because of the cricket match. Luckily Bhatia sahab who has a cosmetics shop next door came to our rescue and dispersed the crowd. But we decided to never play a Pakistan match again, even if it is with India.” As Aarav was leaving, he saw that a big national flag had been put up inside the shop.

“Sabka saath, sabka vikaas”, they said.