Story of an NFC Vagabond
I Pick to Sell & Earn No Chori Even Chori Chori
I’m a little boy, a proud resident of New Friends Colony. I have no Kothi, no Bungalow, no Jhuggi or Jhompri not even a shelter but I’m a smart citizen of capital’s number one Colony. I live with the billionaires of the country.
My bed comprises of a Refrigerator box made of 8-10 ply cardboard lying alongside the bank of the Ganda Nala, on a cluster of weeds and wild green saplings that may or may not ever grow to become trees.
The Sheesham Tree in the park has a hollow space in one of its trunks from where a branch is coming out. Such hollow cavities are usually formed in the trunks of live or dead trees, experts term them ‘habitat trees’. He safely keeps this potli in a shabby dirty cotton cloth placed in that hollow trunk of a dead tree. This exercise he says is to keep rag pickers away so that they are not lured to steal them. Everyone knows that rag pickers lay their hands first on any type of metal, plastic, rubber, to keep them safe this filthy sheet is used because this gives an impression that it is of no significant amount or value.
You might recall the story of a woman who lived her life in a hollow tree, one day robbers found her dead. These robbers used to keep their stolen goods intact with her for years. They wept and buried her and found a huge fortune of currency notes, coins yellow and white metal.
The story of this boy is moving and a little bit similar. He keeps his belongings in a tattered tarpaulin sheet, that comprise of stainless steel, broken glass, a moulded fork cum spoon, one aluminium all sides dented patila, one arm broken plier used perhaps to put on or lift from three brick Chula, some half-burnt tree leaves and branches lying around.
The finance minister has made metal, plastic, rubber expensive so we have a boom and we people now get more money for doing less labour and in less time. So, we have a happy life picking up thrown items like Cola and Beer cans, glass and plastic bottles, automobile accessories, and screws. All these items are found lying on roads in abundance that I pick and have been living an honourable life for last almost three years. Neither am I a thief nor a beggar.
He is happy with this work which is of limited time, whereas the earning fluctuates on day-to-day basis.
He covers three parks, roads, markets and picks up stuff left over by visitors by mistake, sometime they are woollens, sweaters, umbrellas, bags, purses, raincoats, phones, pens, watches, rings, earrings and sometimes even currency notes and coins.
No body will believe that I have returned mobiles, rings, umbrellas etc to the rightful owners without taking any tip in return.
We pick to sell and earn. No chori even chori chori.
by Ashok Nanchahal (D-906 GF, NFC, 9999859085)
