Bihar, Biharis: Saddam Opens a Window

For the past few hours, I was thinking of Saddam, a 15-16 year-old boy from Bihar. Which village, I dont remember. I was talking to  him around midnight two days ago. He had come upstairs to get some cold water from the  "fridge" (refrigerator) to beat the Delhi heat. The night temperatures were on a high. Next days newspapers were to say that the minimum has touched a 15 year  old high. But Saddam seemed undetered by this heat. He was upbeat about himself.


He suddenly started talking about his work, work ethics. And the provocation was my pleasantry "kaam  kaise chal raha hei?" (how is your work going?). I was just trying to be nice to him though I was in no mood to for a  conversation. I was talking to myself and at that point I did not want to talk to anyone. But Saddam suddenly struck me  with his conversation.

Saddam came to Delhi two-three years ago. He is now living in the "posh colony" of Priyadarshini Vihar near  Laxmi Nagar. Priyadarsini Vihar is a posh colony set up by a society formed by employees of American embassy long  back. And our landlord, an MCD contractor bought a bunglow. The ground floor is where around 15 teenagers and adults eat, work and sleep. They do embroidery on clothes and sell it at the cloth market in Gandhi Nagar.

Saddam cleared his throat after gulping the "fridge water". He says, I dont go to my house every year. Aijas  Bhai, who taught him the work, is now on a holiday. "Acha nahi lagta hei ghar jaaane mein (I dont like going home) ". I  was surprised. He says, "my friends don't recognise me there. I have become taller by one feet in two  years. I have become fair. If I go home, I become more darker."

I looked at the boy, lean as me, with astonishment. Is it just that he becomes dark makes him think so. No. 

He thinks, I am what I am now is because of Delhi. Delhi taught me a lot. I am good at my work in two years.  Here, the water quality is good, he feels. He said inserting some english words which he learnt  during his Delhi days. Saddam had madrassa education, learnt Urdu (or was it Arabic), he can't read it now. But  whenever he saw me reading English papers, he used to come and sit near me, watching me flipping through the  pages. He will then ask some questions. And many times, I have seen a sense of disappointment in his eyes. He can't read English and he is not a journalist, I always thought that he was thinking so. I used to tell him, start reading papers.

Suddenly, he starts talking about his work ethics. If you are working, work with passion. He did not say this in as many words. That was what we meant. He continued, If I am working, I am fully into it. My mind won't digress.  May be after two hours, I take a break and during that period, I do many other things. I don't mix work and fun.

He then told me about another guy who was there for the past six years and still not allowed to do work on his  own. "I was fortunate. I learnt fast. That too in two years. The ustad now does not check my work. He knows that I am  good at my work," he sounded jubiliant.
(I am not good at telling stories. So there are so many gaps in the story)

What struck me was his idea about Delhi. He says, like me, Delhi made me and I can't leave this city. It has  become a part of his/my life. But I never say I won't go to Kerala. Perumpally. Kochi. Yes, the other day I was missing  the rains. My friend Santosh Babu was telling me last night, it was raining. I just missed it. Fortunately or unfortunately, i  was the second person to know, other than the MET people, that the monsoon hit Kerala coast (PTI broke the story, my  friend and PTI Science correspondent confirmed it first in India from MET people. He phoned me to give the alert and it  was on wires within a flash of a second).
Shemin/Jun 3