The News Paper Vendor

The News Paper Vendor​

Today the newspaper fellow came to take his monthly Bill of newspapers. I was surprised to see such a small bill just 130/- and joked with him how come u have billed me so less, and he said, Sir u stopped taking Stardust, Filmfare, Readers Digest, and now what are left are just the newspapers.I told him whenever I go to Mumbai I get the readers Digest from the Raddiwala for 5/- , stardust and other mags for 10/- and I get 30 to 40 such old stuff, and it makes good reading for me for the next few months.


How does it matter to me, if I come to know 6 months late who was Salman’s last girlfriend , they are good for the bathroom, and at 10/- they are a steal , but at 50/- they are a daylight robbery.He seemed to get the point, and now he came to the point, and for the first time in the 30 years he has been coming to me came to the point.


He said, Sir u are from Mumbai, and my son is now in a MNC Bank, done his MBA from Pune, at a cost of 7 lakhs, and now employed at Mumbai for 23000/- .Four of his friends have shared a flat in the suburbs for 20,000 and electricity is 5000 extra, so 25000 is divided between the 4 guys working in the same bank.


He said since he joined 6 months back, he has not been sending any money to me.Sir, is Mumbai expensive ? You have come from Mumbai, and u know better.Well I said the housing is expensive but every other damn thing out there is cheaper than Jaipur. You can ride a taxi there for 15/- here no auto will take u less than 30/- for any distance, food is cheap, the roadside guys give lovely pav Bhaji, dosas, vada pao’s , roadside tea is damn good and cheap out there, and u have restaurants for all pockets. i eat regularly on the roads in mumbai, two vada pao's for 5 bucks each, bhajias for 5 again, and one nariyal pani for 15 bucks, and in 30 rupees i am full and satisfied. Or the Udipi restaurant, where i can have a lovely dosa, medhu vada and a tea and in under 40 bucks or 50/- i am through, here it is damn expensive.


For the first time in the 30 years he sat down on the chair in front of me, looking very very worried. He told me, Sir, this newspaper business is very hard.I have to get up at 2 am every morning, come to city on bicycle ( he stays 20 kms away from the city), and at 3 am we get the newspapers from various vendors, takes an hour to fold them for individual persons, and then go another 10 kms to delver door to door, and again go back to collect the Delhi newspapers, like ET and Indian Express, and again come and deliver to everyone, and then go back 20 kms to home after noon. That means at least 80 kms of cycling , he is bald, and all hair white.



He has his own house, a small bunglow, and somehow managed 7 lakhs for his son’s education, with the fond hope that he will settle in Jaipur, work here, in banks etc, and he has good influence in the newspapers too over here, and said I could have employed him here for 15000/- to start with, but my son said the scope is in Mumbai, and he shifted there.


I said, listen Suresh, forget about yr son coming back, now that he is exposed to Mumbai and its fast life over there, he is gone forever.He may fall in love over there, and marry a collegue for all u know. Suresh almost had a tear falling, and I felt very very sorry for him today. He said , do u think my son will marry a girl of our choice, we will get him a Jaipur Girl from our caste, who is well educated, he works here in Jaipur, and contributes to the house expenses too, and we live a nice cosy family ,Sir !


I was also free at that moment so decided to gently tell him the facts of life. I told him , forget about yr son, he will never come here, and if u forcible get him married here, there is trouble that I see. Just tell him, that Good luck Son, don’t ever ask me another penny, go marry whomwover u wish to , but don’t ask me for a penny more. And for yr sister’s wedding too, don’t contribute, but ask any money too, for I have my old age to look to also.


Suresh had moist eyes, and I could do nothing . The guy dosnt want to come to Jaipur, keeps stalling them, and is happy with his collegues out there.Nothing wrong in that, I don’t blame either of them for the way they behave.Both have a point, I just wanted to open Suresh’s eyes to the actual world.He is a small time fellow, the honest chap, a hardworking fellow, and his son is the modern son, who may now feel that my parents are villagers, uneducated , and maybe feeling ashamed of them for sure.


Suresh was asking me, see Sir, 6000 for the rent, 3000 is enough for his food, cant he send 5000 to his mother ? I said Suresh, u and I have 3/- tea at the roadside, your son must be having the 50/- Barista coffee, wearing those Nike shoes, having a laptop, ugrading it from <st1lace>Vista</st1lace> to Windows 7, changing his mobile every now and then, where is the money to spare for u and yr wife ? In fact I fear that he ask u to send 50,000 or more very soon for his salary is not enough at all to sustain him in Mumbai.


He went away saddened, and I will see him next month same time , when he comes again to collect his bill.Mornings he comes, but I am asleep when he comes at <st1:time minute="0" hour="6">6 am</st1:time> to give the papers.


Makes me wonder sometimes, u and me are modern parents , decently educated, what about people like Suresh, who save and scrounge and get up at that unearthy hour to deliver newspapers, to work his ass off to save for his sons education and daughters wedding, how he must have spent the 7 lakhs for the MBA, what hopes and dreams he has of his son, and how it gets shattered so soon.


I was telling this to my brother at lunchtime and he said, he knows of a case, where the father took a loan, to finance his son’s education, and now the meter has started of the bank, he told the son u earn so much pls start to pay the installments, the son replied that papa, right now I am enjoying life, for a few years I am not going to pay, I will see later.


Now when the student takes the loan the guaranter is the father.Just imagine from where will the father pay the bank ? Forget about contributing anything to the parents kitty, he may, with his actions force the father to sell of his house to pay off the bank, leaving the parents homeless ?


Is this what education teaches you as a child ? Do u have no sense of duty, towards the banks who financed u, to yr parents who though no educated, did all they could to educate u, and today u pay them by getting their house sold, all because they made the mistake of educating u .


I was very sad today, and today was the day, I saw the human Suresh, with whom I never ever interacted before, he was just the Newspaper man to me, but today I saw the father Suresh, the uneducated Suresh, the villager Suresh, and I feel very sorry for him.


An Urban man understands that his educated child will fly away and make his own nest, but who is to explain to rural guys like Suresh,that yr son will not come back, u just let him live his life his way, and let him be happy with whomever he wishes to be with. The hardest hit will be the mother, who is uneducated and who stays at home all the time.



KAMAL MAHTANI


Jokes


Teacher to Boys - Tell me your hobby please
Vikram - My hobby is laying on SOFA
Nagendra - My hobby is to sleep on SOFA

Teacher - Yes this is everyone's hobby, even i love to sleep and snooze on Sofa

Teacher to a Girl - Tell me your name and Hobby

Girl - My name is SOFA, and hobby, well Nagendra and Vikram told u about it.

 

Dear Natpudan,

Welcome to my blogs, and thanks for the first comment which is so percious, like the first million, the rest follow later.

Yes i wanted him to prepare for the future.it s like if someone dies suddenly u are shocked, but when someone is in the ICU, u are well prepared for the eventuality.i wanted to prepare him, though i do feel sorry for him, poor chap.

the joke well i mostly post below a post, silly ones mostly to make eeryone smile, i thought this was a naughty one, but i am glad u took it sportingly.

Thanks a ton and pls keep coming.My last post got just 2 comments.

Regards

kamal

 

Dear Jaya,

Now yr joke was more naughtier than mine.HAHA

Thanks for the comments and the joke.You never miss my blogs bless u, tehse days my blogs are not much in demand eh ! So yr comments are like fresh air.

REgards

kamal