One day with me......by 20C 0J6JJ4 A ten rupee note EPISODE VII

The taxi, cutting through the buses and trucks, reached the next traffic signal. I and the girl in the taxi were still trying to digest the things which we heard from the driver.
There was another knock at the cab window and a lady and her baby were standing in their usual dirty clothes. This time the girl inside the cab didn’t respond to them, she closed her eyes tightly and it looked like she was trying to hold her emotions.
While, the lady with her child moved to other vehicles, this girl suddenly took her wallet and gave some money to the taxi driver. She got down in the middle of the road and started walking between the vehicles.
Before I realized, where she was going, she reached the old lady and gave her a tight punch in her nose. I was totally shocked at that moment; the girl now was trying to snatch the baby from that beggar’s hands.
“Oooooooooooh, leave me…..leave me and my baby alone” the beggar started shouting and she was trying to retaliate now.
“Give the baby to me, you Bitch!” the girl demanded “I will take care of the baby; you don’t have to beg to keep it alive”
“It’s my baby, my baby……” screamed the lady with the child and still the child was not making any noise. Nothing could stop this young girl and she was still trying to pull the baby from beggar.
By this time, black dirty hand, of the beggar came towards me. It held the shirt pocket, where I was sitting and pulled it hardly. “creeeeeeek….creeeeeeek….creeek” the pocket was torn and I flew down and got settled on the road.
Above me I saw the two ladies holding each other’s hair and the girl in jeans, was trying to snatch the baby.
Wind gently tried to push me out of that place, however I requested it to show me some mercy, I wanted to know what was happening to this girl, the beggar and baby.
Within few minutes I saw more people around me and they were trying to separate both these women. A stout person in khakhi dress came forward and gave a tight slap to the beggar.
For an instance, everything was silent; the dirty lady started crying loudly. Somebody picked me from the ground with other papers and handed me back to the same girl. She held me in her hands tightly and said “I want to have these people punished, the baby should be saved”
“Come on……let’s go to the police station!!!!” the khakhi fellow shouted at both these women………………to be continued.

One day with me......by 20C 0J6JJ4 A ten rupee note EPISODE VI

There were a couple of phone calls, which she refused to attend with a grin in her face. “Let him cry for sometime” she talked to herself.
“What ma’am?” asked the taxi driver; she nodded her left and right to say it was nothing.
I was still in her pocket, and we were in the taxi which was waiting at a traffic signal. People were selling news papers, small cleaning cloths, guavas, on that busy signal; some even with sleeping kids in their hands were knocking the unopened doors of the cars.
When that old lady with came near our taxi, the girl took a five rupee coin from her handbag and handed it to that old lady. I appreciated her generosity, while the taxi driver started his conversation after such a long time.
“Don’t encourage these things madam.” He said
“Why?” she asked.
“They are all run by mafias, gundas…….. have you ever seen any lady holding a crying baby in her hand? Or any lady taking rest or feeding her kid? Never, you will never find them, that’s because all these small infants are stolen from their parents”
“What the hell?” she jumped out of shock
“Yes madam, they kidnap these kids and every morning they feed them with brandy or something…….. so that the child sleeps the whole day, a part of their daily earnings is collected by gundas and not only these people, See those gangs” Driver pointed out to a bike surrounded by Eunuchs. They were almost pulling all parts of his body and asking money.
“You can escape from any one, but not from these people. They will humiliate and take the money and usually target young men”
“Can’t the police stop these people?” she asked. I was now putting all my efforts to peep out of her pocket and look the scenes around.
“ha ha, they cannot touch these people, they have unions……but…..” he stopped for a minute and continued putting his car’s gear and moving it forward “I wonder why police is staying deaf on these children issues. They would have surely got complaints from the parents, what action are they taking? We don’t know and don’t have guts to question also. Just like this last week a couple was in my taxi looking for their child all around the city……” and continued his story and grieves for them.
Something fell on me and lifted my eyes to see the young girls shedding tears for them. I wanted to wipe her tears, but was feeling at this moment I was feeling ashamed of myself.
To earn me, people are going to even such extent. It seems only we are causing the problem, if we were not there people might have been much happier…….To be continued.

One day with me......by 20C 0J6JJ4 A ten rupee note EPISODE V

Exactly as he told, within ten minutes the bike came to halt. Placing it in side stand and throwing his helmet again into the bag he started running somewhere.

He removed the purse from his pocket; I noticed he was pulling a couple of pink colored guys. I saw them for the first time inside his pocket. Both of them were very silent for that could be the reason why I wasn’t able to notice them. With his purse still on hand he rushed to a girl, who was in her twenties.

He said “See I reached on time!!!!!”

Oh god!!! I thought, the same guy was crying to the police constable, he said his mom was in an emergency. Is she his mom? Was this an emergency? Breaking so many laws he has rushed to this place?

The girl was very upset and immediately started scolding him, “Its 11 already, you were supposed to wake up soon today, what the hell were you doing till now”

“Yeah darling!” he said, “I woke up very early today, at 10 o clock itself, however you see……..”The guy started narrating how he had reached and how heroically he escaped from the police and how late they were getting to enter the cinema hall. I was still not able to come out of the shock…..as they entered a dark door way I was put into his bag with his purse. This time I felt lucky that I am not behind in ass…………….

I understood it was a cinema hall and was sure that I won’t be disturbed for the next few hours. I started to sleep for a while when the sound from the cinema hall kept on disturbing me.

The movie was about PINDARE and people on horses were fighting with each other. I woke in the middle the movie and saw,

“Yeh Mere Talwar sirf firangiyon ki gardano ke liye hai.......”

HERO WAS FLYING OVER A TRAIN…….

“dabi dabi saason se sunatha maine.....” SINGING WITH HIS GIRLFRIENDS

And ultimately,

“Yeh mera desh hai....agar mere desh ki taraf kisine aaknh bhi utayee .tho veer itni dapai machayega jo akal aur bhookam bhi macha nahi payega.....”

I peeped out for a second and saw that the girl was wiping her eyes. Seems they were watching a sentimental movie. I didn’t want to think about it.

It was around 2PM and the girl wanted to rush back home, but the guy repeatedly was asking her to come on his bike. She was almost convinced to go with him when he committed a great blunder of his life. He said, “We had already wasted 3 hours in that boring movie, why don’t we have a nice time now?”

The girl’s face turned red and started to walk down. I was still peeping out of his bag. “Oh God! What a waste fellow” I thought for myself. I suppose he heard me, he realized his mistake, ran behind her and started to beg. This time she didn’t bother to turn.

“I thought you were also a big fan of him???” She murmured.

“What NO!...... I mean yes…….I am big fan, but the movie….”

She showed her hand hardly asking him to stop it. “Then why did you come to his house and waited for more than 2 hours with me?” Now the boy was very silent.

Slowly holding her hands “I still feel it was the luckiest day in my life” he said with a serious face. The girl’s face started blooming slowly while he continued “ Yeah, even after waiting for more than 2 hours in front of his house, I escaped….I didn’t see him” he winked…..

She snatched his bag, opened it and took me along with his purse. She opened the purse. With my eyes and mouth wide open I was looking at her. She quickly ran her fingers through us and dragged me and couple of my siblings out.

She got into the taxi and waving good bye to the sad looking guy she kept us in to her shirt pocket. She guided the taxi driver who enquired about the destination……Crossing various traffic signals the taxi started speeding into the city………To be continued.

One day with me......by 20C 0J6JJ4 A ten rupee note EPISODE IV

“Guru, I can understand why you were riding so rashly, but why didn’t you wear the helmet. You are on the way to meet your mom and don’t meet her with big bandages around your head. Where is your helmet?” asked the constable.

He pulled it from his bag and showed it up to the constable. The traffic constable asked him to wear it and then leave. With full enthusiasm, the young guy put his helmet on and also pushed us inside his back jeans pocket.

While we were being pushed inside his tight jeans, I heard the constable talking to his senior officer “Poor guy, seems his mom is ill…..”

I was confused for some time; on one hand that guy bought a cigarette and was smoking with a relaxed mind, now he is crying that his mom is admitted in the hospital. While I was trying to figure out the reason for it, I heard him raise his speed and crushing us again.

He was playing a song, Timberland-come around by MIA, in his mobile. His mobile was also in the same pocket with the purse. The rhythm of the song matched with our jerks over the seat. I really wanted to enjoy the bike ride but the jumps and jerks broke my boneless body into pieces. I wanted to jump out of his purse and fly somewhere on the road and settle down in dust. Even that would have been a great experience.

All of a sudden, I experienced a severe vibration all over us. With a “Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr….Grrrrrrrrrrr….Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr” vibration, someone was calling him through his mobile. We were experiencing an earth quake inside the purse.

I expected him to slowdown the bike and receive the call, but his hands free cable sent him the caller’s voice. He was still riding the bike, when he received the call.

“Hi Jaan…”

“………………..”

“Yeah I know…..”

“………………..”

“I’ll be there in 10 mins…”

“………………..”

“I am on the way da…………”

“………………..”

“I’ll reach there and tell you na…..Suno….suno….”

He was silent after that and the song started playing again. I understood that he has cut the phone call. Within a second I realized the speed on which we were going doubled.......to be continued

One day with me......by 20C 0J6JJ4 A ten rupee note EPISODE III

I wondered why they were inside this guy’s pocket. Till date, I have been thinking, people usually have us, coins, photos of family or god or girl friends, credit cards, debit cards, ATM slips, visiting cards, driving licenses, pan card, voter’s ID, Grocery bill, band aids, condoms etc… However for the first time I saw a guy keeping a good number of bus tickets in his purse.

Later I understood those were his girl friend’s tickets. I also understand that it was not only tickets he was collecting in his purse. He had a few chocolates and chewing gum covers, rubber bands and many other things which he could accommodate in a place where had to keep my family.

I heard him start his bike and in a few seconds we were crushed between his ass and bike’s seat. Many instances, we found ourselves jumping along with him and again getting crushed back with the seat. It was quite clear; the guy was driving very rashly.

I was holding myself very tightly, while a “creeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek” sound was heard. I knew that there was something which made this guy to stop his bike with a sudden brake. I got a bit of relief when he got down the bike’s seat.

With deep breaths, we heard him talking to someone, rather begging with someone. Sooner, I came to know that he was talking to a traffic police constable. He pulled me along with his purse, with his huge thumb and index finger he started pushing and pulling me left and right. He was searching for something, oh yeah! His driving license.

The constable had caught him for rash driving without a helmet. I knew it would happen but didn’t expect for that soon. I knew not how when all of a sudden the college student was bursting with tears. He was in tears begging for mercy from the constable.

“Sir, my mom is admitted in hospital, I need to go immediately, and I am terribly sorry for riding the bike so rashly……………” and so on……..to be continued.

One day with me......by 20C 0J6JJ4 A ten rupee note EPISODE II

I was in the middle of these stainless steel metal pieces, which actually were making a loud noise. I would have rather stayed inside a bank locker, taking all the dust without any adventure than in the small box. The box in which I stayed was opened once in a while, more guys were pushed in and a few were also taken out. I was yearning for my turn to jump out.
This time when the door opened, I was able to see the sun shining. It was dawn and the number of times the door opened increased, also was the figure or paper and stainless steel bodies, inside the box. Every now and then I was able to hear the sound of the shop keeper shouting at some young guys for not washing the glasses and plates neatly. I wondered why he had to scold the lads. I was told, at this age people will send their kids to school. Who knows, I may be in a wrong place.
I was waiting for my chance to get out when all of a sudden was dragged out of the box with my other cousins. I was in a single position, while many others were four folded; I was certain that they would have had a tough time between the steel guys.
We were straightened one after the other and counted. The shop keeper first licked his thumb and started counting from back to front. Luckily I was the last in my denomination to escape from his dirty thumb. After counting twice carefully we were handed over to another person in khaki. “Oh no! Not again in any auto rickshaw”.
The lean small fellow took us towards a Van. He again counted us twice and got into the vehicle, which was a milk van. Now I was inside his pocket with a lot more expectations. However, wasn’t able to think of anything because of this guy’s driving. I heard lot of honks before we reached the destination. Inside his pocket, we were dashing with each other whenever he applied sudden brakes.
He drove the vehicle into a big dairy farm’s garage. I was expecting him to hand us over to his cash manager who would tightly bind us in a plastic tape and send us into a locker. However, now I didn’t want to be inside a locker. He was not going to any cashier at that moment.
He walked outside the farm and crossed the road to reach a tiny shop. He took us out again and started counting. “Oh gosh!!! How many times will he do that”? He just took me out of the bundle and handed over to the shop keeper, saying “2 packets gutka”. Oh my god, I thought it was already banned outside. I moved to the shopkeeper’s hand and before I was put inside another steel box, I was used as a change to another customer a thin college student.
With smokes coming from his mouth, that small guy took me in his hands. He then kept me in a purse. This new shelter was different from the earlier one. I couldn’t find many of my relatives but was able to see many others in different colors.
These guys were thinner and smaller in size and had no much color on them, they were also not printed in two sides like, but all of them were in weak torn condition. While I was wondering who they were, one of the oldest guys among them said, that they were bus tickets……………………..to be continued…………….. Episode II

One day with me......by 20C 0J6JJ4 A ten rupee note.

I just woke with the sound of a fellow, who was trying to get me out of his purse and an auto rickshaw driver. I was in the middle of my elder brother (20Rs) and younger (5rs). I was sure that I am going away from the temporary family.
The fellow holding me was shouting something like” why do you want money more than meter??....etc”. Ricky replied to him with a clumsy smile “ chai….pani…sir, its 0200 am in the morning”. This guy also replied that he was an call center employee and he works late in the night without chai pani. I then realized what the time was and how handy I was in that situation. With a lot of hesitation I was transferred to the khaki shirt of the auto rickshaw driver.
A few minutes after that I heard him start the auto and murmuring with some ____ ____ ___ words for the call center fellow. I thought of continuing my sleep but was lost in the interaction with my new relatives. We heard a sound outside, there seemed to be a new passenger in the auto. While others were playing around, I tried hard hearing the conversation with the new passenger. Ricky “where do you want to go sir????” a middle aged family man’s voice was heard the other end, who just said “Railway station”.
On hearing that, I was so happy after a long time, because I had never been to a railway station. I always wanted to roam around places or atleast to the states whose languages are printed on me. If I am lucky enough I may be out of the ricky’s pocket and move with the new passenger. Waiting for that one moment, I started dreaming about the places, am I going to Mumbai, Delhi or Chennai?
Time now is 0330hrs, the radio jockey was trying to keep all of us awake with some nice songs and some chit chats. We reached the railway station and with the passenger even I got ready praying for my luck.
I think at that early hour, even god was sleeping and forgot to hear my prayers. I was still inside ricky’s pocket. We had some new relatives, and the passenger gave the ricky exact change and rushed into the railway station. All my dreams are now shattered. My grandfather (100Rs) then told me, “son we are made to satisfy others dreams. Whether small or big we are there to only satisfy them. In turn we don’t have any rest or we are not supposed to dream about anything. For example see your younger brother”, pointing a wounded 5rupee who was covered fully with tape, he continued “he is still alive with those bandages, but his value has never gone own”. Grandpa continued to say some more things, which I voluntarily decide to ignore.
While I was still sad about my adventure, which didn’t even start at this moment, I was pulled out from the ricky’s pocket and was placed in a saucer. It was a road side tea shop and ricky had put me in that saucer to pay for his tea. The shop owner picked me up and put me inside a rusted steel box.
I couldn’t find any of my older generation in that box; I was one among the oldest fellows inside that noisy tin. Rests of the guys were totally different species. I have heard about these people from my other relatives, but for the first time I am seeing these much noisy people with a rigid body built with steel. They were called as the COINS………………………….To be continued………