Best Teacher: Life (A Guest Post)

This is a guest post by my friend Adrij Chakraborty who is currently studying Economics at the University of Edinburgh. Welcome him to the blog, my dear readers!

~ The Bilge Master

You realise how special India is when you, unwittingly, become a part of a few very intimate moments which go on to become excellent stories reminiscent of fairytales.

Imagine you're sitting all alone on a footpath in Karol Bagh at 1 in the night, staring at the lanes that are awfully silent at this time of the day. Your hands are heavy with the DSLR that you're carrying, and your shoulders are burdened with the bag full of tomorrows, plans and issues. You've had a demanding day, and your isolation from the rest of the world is what you cherish the most at this point. You see that the roads are dry, and realise the weather is soothing. The city never sleeps, you understand, and yet this corner of Karol Bagh is where you want to be. The traffic isn't as disturbing, and the absence of human existence is what pleases you to the core. No trace of tomorrow: just this moment.

Now imagine a little boy, 10 maybe, walks up to you and helps himself to a seat right beside you. You notice a stray canine has followed him here. The canine is his friend, he's particularly fond of it. The boy looks tired, and doesn't seem to be from an affluent background. His eyes don't reveal his excitement to see you, his speech does. He asks you why you're sitting here all alone in the dead of the night, and why exactly have your parents ousted you from home. His frank and overt approach gives away his lack of decency. You answer his questions politely, explaining how you like the solitude here and that your parents haven't ousted you from home - you just like to be by yourself at this hour. He's visibly excited to see the giant piece of hardware wrapped in your palms, his excitement not shadowed by any quantum of courtesy. What is that, he asks you. A camera, you return. His feelings skyrocket, as he asks you to click his pictures - and you agree to. Twenty shots later, when you're revising the pictures that you've taken, he thanks you for your effort in the most amusing way.

He takes out of his pocket a pack of biscuits. He hands you one, and throws the other to the now sleepy canine. He only has two, so you break your share into two halves and hand one half back to him. The biscuits, imagine, are bleak and tasteless - low price one with no goodness in them whatsoever. As you're struggling to consume the biscuit, you notice that the boy is eating it effortlessly, relishing it in the process. The canine, moreover, has already managed to down his share and is staring at you with tremendous expectations. You throw the biscuit to the canine, and he instantly gets busy with that. The boy finishes his share and suddenly claims that he's happy today. Why so, you ask him. His eyes glitter in the dark.

The boy belongs to a truck loader based at Noida. His father has finally managed to enrol him in an English medium school. Having never been to one, he's extremely excited about this fact that he'd be educated in a good institute. He claims he'll be the first one in his family to study in such a school, and the only one in his friend circle to have gone to one. He's had a terrific day today, and he hopes the new week brings him more surprises than he can expect. He's saving money to buy new shirts, and his father's helping him out with his new mathematics syllabus. The kid stays with you until it's 4 in the morning, when he suddenly recalls he has work to do. Without a formal goodbye, the kid leaves. The canine, dutifully, follows him to wherever he's off to. As you stare at the kid running off, the fresh sunlight isn't the only thing dawning on you.

You have shared words and biscuits with a complete stranger, and now you've become a part of his journey. Imagine you're someplace else, and you have nothing to do with this random kid with a dog. Now that you've exchanged moments with him, you have unwittingly become a reason he exists in this world. The kid, in turn, has become a background for your nexus as well. You might never come to meet this kid, and he might never cross your path. But these three hours that you've spent with him, will forever be etched in your life.

Small but memorable instances that you become a part of, make you feel the necessity of basic provisions in society. You're a citizen of this country, and there is seldom a better way to realise this in such an effect.