Saturday, 29 June 2013

Alone amidst the crowd


Alone amidst the crowd
He sat there on the sidewalk tired, the weariness clearly seen in his eyes, dazed and seemingly oblivious to his surroundings he sat lost in thought. His trousers were dirty not having seen water and detergent for some time, hair unkempt with shades of beard sticking out from his famished face proof enough that he was underfed and hadn’t shaved in a while. His dreams unfolding before him, the same dreams that had brought him to this Kingdom.
 
The lure of foreign shores and the promised riches at the end of it was probably why he left his familiar confines in the village to venture out into the big city in search of redemption, from life’s travails, from the gross injustice of being poor and having to feed a large family. Greener pastures awaited him; he had seen others in his village, friends striking it rich in the ‘Promised Land’. Now he decided that he would have to give it his best shot, in many ways his last shot in spite of having to pawn ancestral land to find his way here.

The ride to this beautiful kingdom was a dream, never had he seen an aircraft, leave alone travelling in one. The airport was not familiar too, but having followed the others his herd mentality kicked in and he reached the aircraft eager to embark on his maiden trip, a trip that he did not know might be the only one he makes in this world, for soon as he landed he was herded with the others into an open truck and shifted to his camp what would be his abode for eternity.
 
After the initials days the truth dug in, this was no promised land, the wages were as low as he received back home, and his boss though from his home country shoved him around to prove his importance and carry favour with his own superiors. When the initial payment arrived he did his calculations and found out that it would take a couple of years to pay off his village money lender. Meanwhile the family started demanding their pound of the flesh, after all wasn’t he supposed to fend for them, hadn’t they expected a better life once he was gone to foreign shores.
 
The tug of war between sending enough money to care for his family and paying off his debts started getting messy and out of hand, he knew he was caught in a vicious circle, trying to jump over his shadow, no way could he stave off the marauding and ever persistent people back home unless he jumped ‘bail’. Others in his place had done so, some had made it to the shore others had drowned, for him it was the only way out, so one fine day he jumped and has ever since been striving to make both ends meet even while having to keep a watchful eye on the keepers of the law.
 
Now after years of getting drenched in his sweat from the sweltering heat, after years of sleeping without a blanket to cover him during the cold nights, after having to live like a vagabond, he has lost all hopes of retrieving his lost position and pride. He was getting sucked more deeply into the quagmire. Yes, the young man who once carried dreams in his eyes now reflects on the good old days and cries during the night, unable to even recollect the faces of his dear ones.
 
He doesn’t care for the explosives going off around him nor is he afraid to dip his hand into the trash bins like an eager child willing to draw a lot. He is no more afraid of the law, he does not worry about spending time in jail, and he has turned immune to all forms of mental torture. Willing to be led in any direction, not having a mind of his own, without a care in the world, he looks forlorn in his thoughts merely able to recollect some and not thinking of tomorrow.
 
He looks at the crowd of people passing him in cars, pickups, in vans, in buses or on foot, a vast sea of humanity rushing against the odds to make a living, most of them have been fortunate to keep their sanity. He was lost; the tears had dried up and even his own shadow startled him. The ignominy of a person lost in the crowd –He was now alone amidst the crowd.   


(This article is a tribute to the Indian labourer working under adverse circumstances in faraway places in the Middle East like Bahrain).

No comments:

Post a Comment