A Common Man's Story of Hope!

 Meet Bapi!

The one-man show. He repairs pressure cookers, mixers, services gas ovens and can even open locks. He is quite well-known in my area. For picking any kind of lock. And for the obscene rates, he charges. Question him and pat comes his reply, "I do house visits. I am doing my work in front of you. All transparent work. I am always available for you. Shouldn't you pay me a premium?" And that is enough to keep our mouths shut.

Bapi was not born poor. Rather he was one of those unfortunate ones who was born rich but lost everything to a tragedy. His father had huge plots of cultivated land and a bookstore on College Street, the traditional educational hub in Kolkata. The bookstore was their main source of earnings. He was a well-read man who spent time with his books.

All was well, till the riots struck the nation. His father went missing in the chaos. They tried their best to locate him. But ended up clueless. Young Bapi, all of eleven years, gave up the search after a while and started managing the store. One day, local goons rounded him up and threatened to kill him if he did not hand it over to them.

It was at the same time that a decapitated body was recovered. Badly decomposed, the eleven-year-old was summoned to identify. All he saw was his father's peculiar printed half-shirt and the bright fluorescent underwear that his mother hated. And he knew that his father had been murdered in cold blood, the head discarded somewhere to delay identification. The little boy would never come out of this trauma.

The fear was real now. Afraid of her son's safety, Bapi's mother advised him to give up their claim on the store. They sold off their plots to fend for the family. Did I tell you that Bapi has three siblings, all younger than him and brought up by him? Education became history as Bapi started doing odd jobs to survive. He trained under the tutelage of many people till he became an expert in repairing gadgets and picking locks.

In a city like Kolkata, where traditional skills are dying, household commodities are used and thrown away, new locks are replacing the old-fashioned ones, the need for Bapi's skills is in demand. People line up to get their gadgets repaired. Urban couples have no time to step out. Sunday is a busy day as Bapi does house visits, inspecting gadgets and collecting them for further repair. Every other day, these couples forget to take the key out and are either locked in or locked out. Bapi is the saviour, helping them rescue their child from the locked apartment or helping them gain access to their locked flat. 

Bapi is married today and has two children. His mother is an octogenarian and cannot see very well. "I have seen enough, what else is there to see?" She laments. 

Isn't this what we call irony?

But Bapi remains optimistic. He dreams of making it big someday. He hopes to carve a fine man out of his son and give shape to his father's dreams. 

His parting words to me were, "Didi, If I hadn't hoped, I wouldn't have come this far. My Baba had built confidence in me. That was enough to carry me till here. All you need is self-confidence, courage and hope to travel far." 

Precious words, isn't it?