A
man of discipline. A man with dignity and a wonderful human being. He not only
managed to create a very good first impression but also taught me that life is
all about sacrifices and how one should look for happiness in small things. A
down-to-earth person, one could see the pain and regret in his eyes but at the
same time also how he tried getting over that and simply making it his strength
and getting across a long way.
Abdul,
a middle-aged man, of about 46 years of age, currently drives an Auto rickshaw across the city of
Bangalore and has been doing so since the past 20 years. Born to a family of
farmers who never could earn much and make a better standard of living for
themselves, in a remote village of Karnataka called, “Shimoga”, Abdul was never
into studies and so left school after 7th grade. He was a part of a
five-member gang called as the “Panch Pandava”
by the school headmaster. The five of them always hung out together and were
always up to mischief. They loved exploring the village swimming and jumping on
the roofs of a travelling bus from trees. He never really liked the work his
parents did. In search for a better living and a job that interests him he
moved from Shimoga to different parts of the country first being Goa where he sold
Ice-creams for three months but, couldn’t save too much so became a photographer,
where he took photographs at the beaches and other areas. Later on he moved to Bombay
and continued photography. After spending a few years in Bombay, one of his
friends asked him to accompany him to Ajamgarh in Uttar Pradesh where he became
an Automobile Mechanic. Ajamgarh couldn’t keep him for long, Abdul then moved
to Kashmir where he stayed for a short period.
Abdul
came to Bangalore in 1992 for his sister’s marriage and liked the city so much
that decided to stay here and make a living. He found the magnificent city very
disciplined and peaceful. He always liked the fact that Bangalore wasn’t
overcrowded and life here was very convenient. Since then he has stayed in
Bangalore in Hedge Nagar with his wife and three kids. He never wanted his kids
to go through what he went through just because of leaving school at an early
age. He always encouraged his children to study and tried his level best to not
let them be deprived of any facilities because the family’s financial status.
His eldest daughter completed her degree in B.Sc. and got married. The other
two kids, his son and his younger daughter passed school. Due to a financial
crisis he couldn’t manage to help his younger daughter to study further so she
started taking tuition classes at a nearby house. His son didn’t want to go for
higher studies so chose to be a mechanic like his dad once was.
Abdul
always took responsibility of his loved ones. He always ensured that he made up
for what went wrong in the lives of others because of him in some way or the
other. He never saw any difference between any of his kids. He sacrificed his
ambitions. He gave more importance to his family’s needs rather than his
aspirations.
A
person who was never ashamed of what he did considered everything as equal. A
supreme quality that he possessed was that he always considered failure as a
step to success, which I wish I had in me. A man with ethics, which he never
gave up on, he is a fearless and calm person, always looking at the positive
side of life. His main goal in life has always been to keep smiling no matter
what and spread the same. We always consider an auto rickshaw waala to be a very ordinary person who picks and
drops us from one destination to another. Abdul has indeed given a new meaning
to it; he not just helps us reach our destination but reach there with a smile.
A half an hour auto ride gave me a smile worth a lifetime.
-Ruchir Gupta
(FST 102)
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