Unused cables & Stumps of Pros

One more truck, a huge one, carrying the unbelievably huge-fan of the wind energy installation, can be seen slowly moving on the highway. Out there, locals were pretty acquainted with the wind-farms by then. And a few large-land-owners had already started earning lots of money giving their land on lease. Earlier the price of those lands were unimaginable meager but now industries are coming one after another, as if goddess Lakshmi's gracious vision suddenly improved their lives.

Kara sat on his khatlo, which is a type of 'cot' that had a frame made of welded scrap-iron-pipes strung with light rope-mesh. He is in his fifties, medium-height, sun-tanned-skin and wearing the typical kutchi Maldhari handlebar moustache. His ancestors were animal-herders. Since ages they had been in cattle rearing. Gazing blankly the clear sky and the tree-less vast land ahead, he shouted addressing his wife, "What's the matter, what happened? Will I get some tea this morning?"

In comparison with others in his neighborhood, Kara owned bare minimum number of cattle that included goats, sheep, cows, buffaloes and two camels. After a few seconds, a reply came from the inside of his 'bhunga', the small-traditional-house, which emphasized the urgent need of sugar. Out of irritation he commented, "Oh my blessed lucky lady! Yesterday evening didn't you buy bangles? Why didn't you buy sugar then?"

A few uncomfortable moments passed. The reply came once again, "Had there been money with me I would have bought." Now, hearing those words, Kara sedately lifted his body out of that cot. His legs reached for the sleepers, every time he did that without looking downwards. And then, he slowly moved towards the road. Grasses were trodden because of repeated walking and the serpentine-path has formed that ended near one of the small shops flanked by the highway.

Kara used to sell milk regularly to some people living around that area. He had a second hand motor-cycle, which he would run using kerosene oil. And it would end up burning inefficiently and emit lots of smoke. But, one of his friends, a mechanic, used to help him repairing his bike. Three shops on the road-side were also his customers. He planned to ask for some advance money from Mahesh, a teashop owner. He is a thin and tall chap, voraciously talkative fellow. Often he chitchats with Kara. Sometimes, their conversations would get stretched lavishly. 

Mahesh often talks about different anecdotes. Lately many people have made a lot of money by selling their land. And again, they came to know such anecdotes too, in which people bought an expensive motorcycle or a car and met with an accident. And then, lots of money has gone to the hospital. Kara never thought of selling land. After all, unlike many others, he didn't inherit much. 

Kara knew that Mahesh would lend him because they trusted each other. They would often talk about other shop-owners and enjoy the leisure-time. "Kara-bhai, you know the boy named James, who runs the garage at the fag-end of this place, he has come all the way from Kerala?" Mahesh would often start this way. Kara's geography-knowledge wasn't enough to figure out the location of 'Kerala' for he didn't study beyond the primary school and he hadn't travelled beyond the district-headquarter. He used to look at Mahesh blankly and he would make "hmm.. hmm.." kind of sound. 

Their topic would never end. And 'Time' would unknowingly roll on and on, seconds into minutes and minutes into hours. 

A friend of Mahesh visited the shop one Sunday morning. That friend pretended to be a knowledgeable palmist. And jokingly he said several remarks seeing the divine-lines of Kara-bhai's hand. His acting-performance was jolly good. Kara hardly remembered all those well-composed forecasting remarks. He wasn't much interested in those remarks. But one point he remembered very well. That was, "God definitely shows one way or the other to earn the livelihood for each and every-one."

Kara noticed that many times several cars are parked on the side of the road pretty far from the company-gate. He asked Mahesh, "Why the cars are kept on the roadside for so long?" Mahesh informed him, "You know, those cars belong to those people, who are outsiders, not the employees of this company. You see Kara-bhai, those people used to come here for some or the other work in the company office."

Anyway, Kara didn't discuss anything farther. But he thought, "If there is a safer place, I suppose, these people may keep their car in that place, Isn't it?" And at that instant he planned to do something. His younger brother, Jiva, who decided to remain unmarried, used to live in a temple-precinct most of the time. He used to visit Kara's family very occasionally but a very industrious person.

Reaching home, he informed his wife, as he used to do, shouting from the outside, "I am going to meet Jiva. I may come late. Don't worry. Do not wait for me in lunch-time." And thereafter he took his favourite stick and started walking for he was pretty sure there wouldn't be any reply from inside.

His brother Jiva was in the temple then. Kara told him to come quickly. He said, "We have to take a good axe and collect some unused-cable-wires. We need to cut some strong branches and tree-trunks of 'Gando-bawal', the Prosopis-trees. Hurry up, let's move." Without asking anything, Jiva joined. He put the shawl on his shoulder and then he started walking behind his elder brother.

The next three days both brothers worked very hard. And they constructed a temporary but good fencing around a pretty big plot of their own-land, which was quite close to the highway. He instructed Jiva to make a signboard and get that painted. He suggested these words, , 'Keep your car here carefully. Your car will be safe.' 

As instructed the signboard was made by some-painter whom Jiva knew very well. For that work the painter charged them the bare minimum. Soon monsoon reached this geographical-region of the extreme West. Kara collected some good number of Neem saplings from a nearby nursery and planted those all around the plot. 

Every morning he would ask Mahesh "Was there any car-owner enquiring about keeping his car safely in my land?" But, every time he shook his head, by that he would mean, "No."

But he assured Kara, "As and when there is any such customer, I will show him your house, don't you worry, Kara-bhai." After a few months, a friend of Mahesh told him, "Kara-bhai the signboard is written in Gujarati, the people, I mean, the outsiders, how will they read Gujarati?"

Kara never thought about it. He recollected an anecdote, that afternoon, when many people had halted in front of the shop for tea and snacks. They came in a big traveler-car. They didn't have much cash. That day this friend of Mahesh ran and brought the QR-code-card from James, the garage-owner. And therefore, this friend convinced the customers. They did not leave the shop without taking tea and snacks. 

This same friend convinced Mahesh that it is better to start using QR code print, online money transfer, for convenience in business. Thereafter, Mahesh contacted the bank people and now on the top of each table he kept one such card nicely placed inside transparent plastic stands.  

So, Kara pondered over the signboard issue. Immediately, he contacted a teacher of the village-primary-school. And there the 'caption' of the signboard was finalized. On top of it, in big letters, in English, it will be, 'Park your car here; Kara-bhai will keep your car with care.' And below that, in small letters, other details will be painted. 

Soon the old signboard was replaced by the new one.   

Every morning, Kara would anxiously wait for his customers. He would remain very attentive, not to miss the horn of a car. His wife would say, "We aren't deaf, we can hear very well." One evening, hearing some screeching sound as if something was moving, he came out hurriedly towards the highway. To his utter dismay, he found a camel-cart loaded with hay-stack. It was pretty embarrassing for him. 

But he never lost hope. 

 And then, one fine morning, it was very much misty all around that day, both Kara and his wife heard, 'horn of a car', clearly audible. Kara came out immediately. A sardarji was standing near his car. Somehow he managed to talk to that unknown-person in broken-Hindi. And finally the wheels of the first car slowly rolled inside his parking-area. 

A few months passed. Kara would meet Mahesh in his shop as usual. Jiva used to live in a small newly-built house now inside that parking land only so that he can deal with customers. Kara and Mahesh would talk endlessly, as they used to do earlier. There was no dearth of their topics. 

And quite oblivious to the fact that unknowingly 'Time' would roll on and on; seconds would roll into minutes and minutes into hours. Yet, they enjoyed every bit of those passing-moments. 

                                                                               ___

A few years later, one Sunday, that same friend of Mahesh, the shopkeeper, turned up again. He was dressed differently, because he had changed his job recently. Just then, Kara reached there riding on his same old-motorbike, in front of the shop, to deliver milk, exactly the same way as he used to do every day. He sedately handed over the milk-can to Mahesh and left for other destinations to deliver milk to his other customers on time. He didn't notice the people inside the shop. 

Mahesh asked his friend, "The milk-man who came just now, could not recognize you because you are dressed differently or he may have not noticed you. However, did you recognize him? He is that same Kara-bhai, seeing the lines on his palm, you said something jokingly. Do you remember that incident?" 

He was surprised totally and said, "Oh my God! After that incident, did he seriously remember my words?" 

Yes my friend, very seriously, and now-a-days he is earning a pretty good amount of money every-day. There was a time, when he used to borrow money from me but now if I have a special-&-urgent-need then I ask him. And you know how all that happened? Raising his hand and pointing the index finger, he said, "Look at that nice parking area. There is a beautiful compound-wall now. He started with 'branches of Prosopis trees and unused cables '. What an humble beginning, No! "                                    

                                      *******