As
usual I took a seat in the chartered bus which takes me to my office in central
Delhi. Hardly had I settled down in my seat that an old lady occupied the seat
next to mine. She appeared new on this route. I had never seen her earlier in this
chartered bus. Once seated, she brought out her mobile phone to offer obeisance
to the “frozen baba” that she had saved as the wallpaper of her mobile.
Thereafter, she started playing some bhajans without putting on the ear
phones. It appeared she was reciting the verses as well. This continued for the
next ten minutes. In between she paid 30 rupees, as fare to the conductor. It
included a torn 10 rupee note which she passed on placing it between two other
notes without a second thought at the improperness of her act. Her prayers were
over in next 10-15 minutes after which she turned off the mobile. Her morning
prayer was over, I guessed. She turned to me and offered me some prasad
which I accepted, albeit hesitatingly. I merely greeted her out of courtesy,
but she appeared bent upon to vent her anger. “You see, I am forced to take
this chartered bus. I was never late to office and reached positively by 10.00
O’clock, but to hell with the present regime and its biometric, I am forced to come
out about half an hour earlier.”- She bemoaned. Even without waiting for my
response, she opened her bag and brought out Tiffin and began her breakfast.
She went on munching her food, at the same time showering choicest expletives
on government’s decision to introduce the biometric, many of which cannot be
written down here for the sake of civility. I could not resist opposing her.
“But aren’t we supposed to attend office in time?” I defended the government’s
decision. “People running the governments don’t have the responsibility to run
a family like us, which is a responsibility greater than running a nation.”-
She protested. I wasn’t amused. “But if you find the job so burdensome why did
you join the government service in the first place?”- I countered. “Had I known
that government job meant attending office in time, I would have rather
preferred job in a private company; at least I would have been better paid”. –
She quipped. I stop short of saying that had she got into a private company,
she would have by now got laid off, given her attitude towards work. I had to
get down the bus as it had reached my stop. So much anguish for attending
office in time- it was indeed a novel revelation for a person like me coming
from a small town to a metropolitan like Delhi.
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