Thoughts Of A Wandering Mind -- The Rickshaw Puller

This is not a story, this is a real incident which came up during the general conversation I was having with my Mother today.. It happened with a distant relative, a maternal Uncle of mine.. He was on his way to railway station to board a train.. He had taken a rickshaw to reach there.. Railway station was a little far from his home and somehow he had managed to put himself in a situation wherein he had touch and go hopes to board the train.. In his quest to reach the destination in time, he started requesting the rickshaw puller to cycle fast.. Noting that his requests didn't have the desired effect, his desperation grew and requests took the shape of yelling.. Continuous yelling too didn't help him either and by the time he reached station, the train had already left, ignorant of the fact that one of the passengers has not boarded the train despite yelling his lungs out at the poor rickshaw puller all through his way to the station.. And here they're; my poor uncle and the poorer rickshaw puller having his dose of curses for being so lazy and discovering that he was no good at doing anything, even with pulling a rickshaw.. Poor fellow heard everything with his head bowed in complete silence, just waiting for being handed over his well deserved money (or not ?), for carrying his passenger from a fair enough distance in the sweltering heat.. While paying the rickshaw puller, my uncle didn't waste one more opportunity to vent out the still brimming anger.. "It looks you have not had any food since ages!", He said.. The rickshaw puller just accepted the fair thankfully and while carefully tucking it in his pocket, said in a low voice with intense pain, "Not since ages sir, but last three days.. Lost my only son few days ago.." He wanted to say more but couldn't muster the courage; decided otherwise and went away with a quite move on his rickshaw, leaving my uncle wondering what to reply and how to react..

This incident occurred many years ago and still, on hearing this, I can't help but think and feel the pain, the helplessness and the anguish of the poor fellow.. At times I get hurt when I feel that I have been misunderstood, or not understood, or have not been cared or treated the way I would have liked to be.. But we have several unfortunate people for whom these things are a luxury.. Their sole aim everyday is to make both ends meet, for whom every day is a whole new set of struggles, a struggle for survival, a struggle to have food, a struggle to remain alive! And if they lose a dear one, then they must bury the grief deep inside, for the life doesn't offers them the luxury to weep their hearts out at the unrepairable loss they have suffered.. They can't brood over the grief that they will not see that face of that loved one because if they chose to do that, they run into the risk of remaining hungry in their thatched houses that whole day and the following night too.. And when they will get up the next morning, they will be way too weak for crying, leave alone earning the livelihood..

Wise people have said that God gives everyone just as much which is good for that person.. With due respect, I will prefer to disagree here.. Either these wise people are not so wise OR God seriously needs to fix the device he is using to calculate for deciding how much should be given to everyone! I might not be having the wisdom to question this, but one thing is for sure that I understand what is happiness and what is grief.. If we try to see the distribution pattern of these two things in the world then one thing is certain that God has not been fair.. None of the great logics and arguments given by the great wise people with infinite wisdom can satisfy me on this.. I am very much aware of the fact that what I think doesn't makes any difference to the world, but they do to me.. And at the end of the day, that is what that matters most.. We all trust the things after gaining understanding about the specific thing or object in question, but if we trust something without putting any logic behind it; just because we have been taught since generations, then that is what we call blind faith.. And blind faith is like a mirage which always takes us far from reality.. I choose to see the desert instead of a mirage..

Coming to an end, I will not make any attempt to get these lines to a conclusion.. These are some open questions, some facts which will remain there till eternity.. Some people will always remain more fortunate, more affluent while many others will have their destinies full of hardships.. There will always be the similar rickshaw pullers paddling with empty bellies and dried tears which could never come out of the eyes..

Don't know who is controlling our strings.. Certainly, perfection doesn't sounds to be a true word..