It happened a few days ago. I was riding a
rickshaw to Bandra station after attending the Times Litfest, and as often
happens, I talk to the rickshaw driver. I get my story and blog ideas from
common people like him, so this time, though my mind was a bit fuzzy from all
the talk at the festival, I started a conversation.
He was a young man of 28, though he didn’t
look his age. First I ask him if traffic is this bad on Hill Road. He says
because of the Sea-Link Road traffic in these parts has increased. Travelling
on the Sea-Link is smooth but it causes jams at either ends of it, leading to
further chaos in parts like Hill Road where Bollywood celebrities like Shahrukh
Khan and Salman Khan live. (As you have guessed by now, I am a die-hard filmy
person, though I don’t see Hindi films.) As far as asides go, here’s one: I
pass the American Express Laundry, the alleged place where Salman’s car
allegedly ran over and killed one person and injured a few others. (He was acquitted
in the case today, Dec 10, 2015.)
The rickshawalla smiled often, turning his
face to me as he spoke, honesty in his voice and in his eyes. The general view
of Bombay’s rickshaw-drivers is of a rough individual who looks surly – sort of
Gulshan Grover in a negative role – and doesn’t hesitate to fleece his customers.
He broke that stereotype, in my mind, at least. His name is Shahid and he was from
near Allahabad, 60 kilometres from where Amitabh lived, he said. In Bombay, he
lived near the Bandra terminus and is married and had a child who died (Allah
ko pyara ho gaya, he said.). Earning around 500-600 rupees a day, he is content
with that income. He owns the vehicle and drives only for a limited period of
time. Not particularly greedy, he doesn’t seek to earn more, or, for that
matter, seems not ambitious at all. This is because most rickshaw drivers try
to earn more by giving their vehicle to another driver in the night shift, so
that he can earn more.
The economic theories I heard that day, the
one expounded by Harvard professor of government theory Michael Sandel
in particular, mentioned that inequalities are what drives people to extremism.
Democracies should combat this trend by having a strong public discourse. I
don’t know if people here know what discourse means. Have you watched those
endless shouting matches on television and a bleary-eyed, bespectacled guy
screaming “the Nation wants to know.” Then you get the drift. They – the majoritarians
– would rather treat everything as their right, than engage in a public
discourse. Well, something to that effect was said, considering my advancing
age, and impaired hearing. (Sorry to mention, Times Litfest, the acoustics was
abysmal, all I could hear were big booming echoes in the cavernous Mehboob
Studios!) I wonder how a young man like Shahid could be so devoid of ambition.
How could he not try to earn and give his wife a better life? Sandel said, because
of inequalities, everyone should aspire for better incomes and better prospects
in whatever they are doing. Agreeable, considering one per cent of Indians own
fifty percent of the wealth of India. This man was not crazy for money and
seemed very moral in his behaviour and dealing with customers. (When I flagged
him, he willingly stopped, while most of his contemporaries just sped away.)
Sandel had also mentioned that money can’t
buy morality and that people’s morals are what are being compromised. His topic
was “What Money can’t buy.” This man, Shahid, one among the most moral men I
have met, doesn’t want to compromise on his morality and is therefore content
to lead his life without bitterness. Not for him the issue of religion, which
is like a gorilla, sitting in our parliament, flinging everything – mikes, mike
stands, speaker’s gavel, paper weights, etc. etc.
Today – that day, December 6 – being the
anniversary of the demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya in the state from
where he came from I asked him if there were riots and animosities in his
village, where he grew up. He said there is no such thing. Riots are unknown in
his village and people live in harmony. They go to Hindu weddings and invite
Hindus to their weddings, and the atmosphere is not at all rancorous as I might
have imagined. Or is he fibbing, or, has the situation changed after he left
his village? I don’t know. That’s surprising because Allahabad is only 168
kilometres from Ayodhya where the Babri masjid was demolished.
I think the problem, as Sandel mentioned is
the reluctance to have a public discourse about religion. As such political discourse
in India mean a lot of shouting and accusations being flung at the others. “You
are like that, so you must be hated,” is what we hear instead of a political or
social discourse.
I also think a vast majority of people feel
like Shahid. Then I think of the huge number of jobless youth being radicalised
and deprived of a good future. Are these religious extremists doing the right
thing? But why aren’t the voices of sanity being heard? Why aren’t they
expressing their anguish? On this anniversary of the Babri masjid I have no
answers. Those who seek to polarise religions without entering into a public
discourse are doing the wrong thing, in my opinion.
And here’s a hat doff to Shahid, may his
tribe increase and spread the message of amity and goodwill. I love that guy.
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