Resilience of Son of Soil
Late evening after a busy training schedule on Vector borne disease, just stepped out of Kendriya sadan- central government towers in kormangala,bengaluru. From there i had to reach West of chord towards my home. Taking out my smart phone just logged into newly downloaded Cab service app Uber. Thought of experimenting with Uber pool where in multiple customers can pool into a same cab plying in the same route. After swiping the tab for booking a cab, got a call from a unknown number ,there he was the driver confirming my location.
In a jiffy he was there, picked me up, something was miss in his attire,wasnt looking like a typical professional cab driver. His colloquial accent made me acknowledge he seems to be from northern part of karnataka, for we have n number of accent of same language kannada depending on bordering satates.
Inquisitively i asked " are you new to bangalore? Do you know the location and route how to take me to destination". Turning back he smiled displaying his beetle leaf paan tinted tooth,a red towel hung on his shoulders said on my face " Sir , yake worry madthira. illi nodi ee mobile nalli nimma manege directions torsutte". Well he was vouching on GPS system which was mounted on the front glass shield. I posed one more question , Are you new into this cab driving?. There started his eloquent tale which etched in my mind.
He was a farmer,few months back in coffee land chikamagalur. And the car he was riding me in, was his personal car which was used to commute from his home to farm. What on earth made this farmer to get into the uber,and shuffling gears in busy traffic of bengaluru,staying away from his wife and children pondered my mind.
Well the reason was "Crop Loan". Last summer i had a written a essay on farmers suicide in my gazetted officers mains examination, most of them succumbed to dwindling rate of interests,harassment my money lenders and ended life. The count was 400 odd farmers gave up life committing suicidein karnataka chosing a noose around neck or the oraganophosphorus poisoning.Among them majority were bread winners of family giving up life.
In between the driver gets another call, he says he is busy and cuts the call. He again turnsback and say sir Ola davru sir,nanu eradu cab service ge work madtheeni.
Oh, such a hard working chap i thought. He says he has loan of onelakh eighty thousand, come next two months i will be loan free.My watermelon crop was dissaster due to deficient rains.
With a grin he said i earn 80,000 per month , taking out diesel expense and my food and room rent i make 60000 per month.
Well for the same 80K many doctors like me travel to interiors of districts , many techies travel hours together in traffic snarls , here the 10 th pass farmer with skill of driving at his hand was earning quite decent money. Apart from that he says he is safe in bangalore traffic, because he cant be knocked down to death within the traffic density here.
As my location nears he says" sir next week i am going back my village for 2 days , to disburse the nursery of best tomato which i do as part time bussiness."
I generously praised his enterprising spirit and said you are a model for farmers in this atmosphere of suicide gripping the major workforce of india. Just a few minutes before i get down he replied " Sir why should i die, see god has given me perfect working body and mind with strong upper limbs(thol bala).? This gift of life given by god, cant be taken away by us, it is his will.
And as long as i am alive i will work hard and lead a dignified life". the journey ended , mulling over his philosohphy of life got down in front of my house.
Had the courage of this young farmer,spilled over to the hopeless suicide seekers, the grief of thousands of dependents wouldnt be there. It would be few more years of joy and life to people around the departed souls.
Well cab driver story was worth a testimony of what a skill can do to the seasonal unemployed farmers whose fortune is depended on the vagaries of monsoon . Thanks to the enterprenuers of Ola and Uber millions of youth have found vistas in urban india, driving the valued customers to the destination depending on the technology of satellite navigation. Through out the one hour journey i was humbled by the resilience of this son of soil, people like you are back bone of this nation.
In a jiffy he was there, picked me up, something was miss in his attire,wasnt looking like a typical professional cab driver. His colloquial accent made me acknowledge he seems to be from northern part of karnataka, for we have n number of accent of same language kannada depending on bordering satates.
Inquisitively i asked " are you new to bangalore? Do you know the location and route how to take me to destination". Turning back he smiled displaying his beetle leaf paan tinted tooth,a red towel hung on his shoulders said on my face " Sir , yake worry madthira. illi nodi ee mobile nalli nimma manege directions torsutte". Well he was vouching on GPS system which was mounted on the front glass shield. I posed one more question , Are you new into this cab driving?. There started his eloquent tale which etched in my mind.
He was a farmer,few months back in coffee land chikamagalur. And the car he was riding me in, was his personal car which was used to commute from his home to farm. What on earth made this farmer to get into the uber,and shuffling gears in busy traffic of bengaluru,staying away from his wife and children pondered my mind.
Well the reason was "Crop Loan". Last summer i had a written a essay on farmers suicide in my gazetted officers mains examination, most of them succumbed to dwindling rate of interests,harassment my money lenders and ended life. The count was 400 odd farmers gave up life committing suicidein karnataka chosing a noose around neck or the oraganophosphorus poisoning.Among them majority were bread winners of family giving up life.
In between the driver gets another call, he says he is busy and cuts the call. He again turnsback and say sir Ola davru sir,nanu eradu cab service ge work madtheeni.
Oh, such a hard working chap i thought. He says he has loan of onelakh eighty thousand, come next two months i will be loan free.My watermelon crop was dissaster due to deficient rains.
With a grin he said i earn 80,000 per month , taking out diesel expense and my food and room rent i make 60000 per month.
Well for the same 80K many doctors like me travel to interiors of districts , many techies travel hours together in traffic snarls , here the 10 th pass farmer with skill of driving at his hand was earning quite decent money. Apart from that he says he is safe in bangalore traffic, because he cant be knocked down to death within the traffic density here.
As my location nears he says" sir next week i am going back my village for 2 days , to disburse the nursery of best tomato which i do as part time bussiness."
I generously praised his enterprising spirit and said you are a model for farmers in this atmosphere of suicide gripping the major workforce of india. Just a few minutes before i get down he replied " Sir why should i die, see god has given me perfect working body and mind with strong upper limbs(thol bala).? This gift of life given by god, cant be taken away by us, it is his will.
And as long as i am alive i will work hard and lead a dignified life". the journey ended , mulling over his philosohphy of life got down in front of my house.
Had the courage of this young farmer,spilled over to the hopeless suicide seekers, the grief of thousands of dependents wouldnt be there. It would be few more years of joy and life to people around the departed souls.
Well cab driver story was worth a testimony of what a skill can do to the seasonal unemployed farmers whose fortune is depended on the vagaries of monsoon . Thanks to the enterprenuers of Ola and Uber millions of youth have found vistas in urban india, driving the valued customers to the destination depending on the technology of satellite navigation. Through out the one hour journey i was humbled by the resilience of this son of soil, people like you are back bone of this nation.
Comments