The clock struck 11 in the night. Though the city was half asleep, it was half awake. The scorching heat of the Sun during daytime prevented many people from coming out of their homes. They loved to enjoy somewhat empty roads glowing with white and yellow streetlights, the silent cool breeze and whispering beauty of a city in the night. Despite a cool weather outside, the club’s inner environment was heated up. The game of carom was in full swing with Girish and his friend on one side. They were playing continuously since last 5 hours and now the game had reached its peak. Girish was well known for extraordinary shots and considered to be one of the best proficient players in the club. This was the only greatest achievement he ever had in his life. Since the day his matriculation results were out, Girish had been spending his last 2 years in this carom club. He had failed in the exams and his hatred for study kept him away from further attempts to pass his matriculation. He had made his mind that education was not his cup of tea. The parents, though tried to persuade his mind to appear for exams but he did not change his mind. His elder brother had a job in a municipal corporation and had been trying to get a peon’s job for Girish. But it was taking time and Girish did not want to do anything on his own. He cared a damn about his future.
Both the teams were playing their perfect shots and everyone was better than the other. It was a last coin, that is queen cover to be put in for both the teams and it was Girish’s turn. He perfectly put the queen-coin in the pocket without any hassle. If he put the queen-cover in, he would win. With fingers fully cloaked in boric powder, his confident hand slowly approached for striker. It was now time for queen-cover. All others gathered around their board were holding their breath. The coin was not in the difficult position on the board. He aimed at her. The striker was released from his firm fingers. It whirled and struck on the coin. To everyone’s astonishment he missed it. No one could believe that. He also was feeling a jolt and banging hard in disappointment. In next turn opponent easily put the queen coin and queen cover in and they won the game. Not only Girish lost the game but now he owed a treat to his opponents. He left the club in anger. He wanted to go anywhere but home. He wanted to yell till he burn out his anger. Wandering here and there for some time, Girish reached Paanwala’s shop. He stuffed a beetle into his mouth and sat on the bench in front of shop. His parents did not give him money. His brother used to give him some pocket-money as he was the only breadwinner for whole family.
Few people at a distance from the shop were discussing about the business of running the cab service for people working in SEZ (Special Economic Zone). Their noise caught Girish’s attention. Every one among the group was chewing paan. The sweet smell of paan had filled the surrounding air. Many multinational companies had put up their offices in SEZ. Though these cab-service providers did not know what the SEZ was, they thought of it as the great source of earning money. The development of SEZ had given rise to many small businesses including hotels, shopping centers and transportation. Girish slid across the wooden bench towards the other end which took him closer to those people. He wanted to listen to what they were discussing about. Though that was none of his business, he felt no harm in knowing about it.
Everyone among that group was eager to put forth his experience for that day. The discussion was friendly with a gratifying smile on everyone’s face as the business was going well. They talked about the progress in their business of transportation. They also shared their experience of people working in big firms. The good earnings from the business had really changed their way of living. Everyone had purchased one or the other new luxurious thing like fan, TV, refrigerator etc through the money they earned from the business. The success mantra of their business was that they knew the need of transportation for the people and they had catered to that need. So people who earn thousands would not give a second thought to spend few hundreds on the travelling if they were going to experience a hassle-free journey.
Once their serious discussion was over, they started chatting about films and the new hotties in the bollywood.
A comparatively young man said, ‘Yesterday, I was watching the trailer of an upcoming movie wherein they showed just a glimpse of a kissing scene. I was disappointed. I feel they should show the whole scene.’
The other men laughed. An elderly man said, ‘for rest of the kissing scene you will have to go to theatre and watch that movie. How do you expect the whole kissing scene to be shown in the trailer only? If they do, who would then watch a movie?’
Another man said, ‘Many of today’s young couples go for a movie to watch kissing scenes, soon after watching that glimpse in the trailer. They care a damn about rest of the movie. And that short scene is more than enough to rouse their interest in the film.’ Everybody started laughing again.
Girish went home with his mind fully loaded with thoughts, constantly thinking about whatever he heard from those people. He now knew the money making business of transportation. How people working in those big companies were generous enough to spend money. Everyday people had to go to their offices, situated in the SEZ across hilly area, few miles away from the railway station. The cab service from station to the SEZ had proved to be a great relief for those people. Earlier people had to either travel by autos or use government buses. They shelled out more money from their pocket if they travelled by auto. Autos provided much comfort as compared to bus service. If they travelled by buses, they had to undergo strenuous physical fatigue. Unlike bus and auto service, the cab service was cheaper and easily available for them. The comfort level was not at par with that provided by autos but people did not need to stand like they had to if they travelled by bus. This had, to a little extent, eased the load on their pockets while the cab drivers benefited by earning money for living. But this had little impact on the income of autowallas. They were feeling the pinch of it. Their competition to attract the people was increasing day by day. The good thing definitely was that the cab drivers were earning more than enough and were always in profit with full recovery of maintenance and fuel costs. The people working in SEZ were nice, understanding and of friendly nature. They always treated these cab drivers cordially and no one was ever humiliated.
Girish felt it would a good opportunity in his life if he also ran the cab. He would get a chance to prove his abilities to parents. Till today nothing good had happened in his life. Every time and at every point, life had slapped him hard in the face. The discussion of people on that night made its impact on Girish and he considered this to be an opportunity to earn some money. He was confident that he can do well in the transportation business. He wanted to run his own vehicle. He knew driving. He discussed about this with his parents and his brother. Earlier his parents were against it but his brother supported his idea and was also ready to help him. The major problem for them was of vehicle. They were not in a position to own their own vehicle by buying it new from the showroom. They took help of their maternal uncle who agreed to offer his eight-seater cab, provided he should be paid some money as a lease amount. Both brothers were overjoyed. And Girish knew that the business was going to give him enough money to cover up all the expenses. Overall, it took near about two months for Girish to convince family members and arrange for the vehicle.
The day had arrived, which Girish had been waiting since so many days. He offered initial prayers to God and prayed for success in the business. He was overjoyed to kick start his first day of work with blessings from the God, parents and elders. He had talked to the cab service providers who were already in the business. He also had discussed about his entry in the business and they allowed him. These people had their own group to manage certain things with traffic police officers and they hardly allowed other people to trespass their business arena. Girish had to urge a lot before they could allow him to enter.
The first day was pretty good for Girish. He earned thousand rupees with five trips and two hundred rupee per trip. He was happy and smiling. The family also was satisfied to see a smile on his face. That day he had a sound sleep. He dreamt of making good amount of money and his business going in full swing. He was quite sure that his dream was going to be a reality soon. His first month earnings had aggregated to good amount with which he purchased gifts for entire family. And what a joy it was for Girish to gift clothes to his family members with his hard earned money. His parents were very proud of him to see his glowing eyes. In the next three months of time he had earned quite a good amount of money to purchase some luxurious things like television and refrigerator. The standard of living for all family had raised and everyone was leading a good life.
Girish had been doing well in his business. He now had found his life on track. Going early in the morning, coming home before noon, either having some rest or doing some family work in the afternoon, again going back for work in the evening till ten o’clock in the night. It had become a routine life for Girish and he had been used to it.
It’s been one year that Girish had started his travelling business. His parents thought Girish was now settled well in his business and it’s the time for his marriage. They started looking for a girl. His maternal uncle’s daughter was younger to him and looked to be a great match for him. As Girish owed a lot to his maternal uncle, how could he refuse to the marriage proposal from his maternal! She was beautiful and well-known in relatives for her charm. Girish was ecstatic to get engaged to his maternal uncle’s daughter.
Here in business arena, the feud between autowallas and cab drivers had been intensifying with driving each other out at every moment. Two years before when SEZ started, autowallas had enjoyed the complete monopoly for over six months. When these cab drivers started the cab service people found the cheaper alternative. They preferred to travel by cabs and this could not go down well with autowallas. The autowallas started fighting with cab drivers. Initially the cab drivers took all the things easily and did not pay much attention to it but later on they gave up their ignorance and faced autowallas head-on. There were many people commuting between railway station and SEZ. If autowallas and cab drivers did not fight amongst each other they both could easily have good amount of earning. But we are aware of the human nature and how a human wants to have a full share instead of a pie. This tendency among autowallas gave birth to the greed and disdain. The autowallas started abusing cab drivers. In retaliation, cab drivers also started abusing and quarreling with autowallas. This had raged tension and spread unrest among both autowallas and cab drivers. The feud had reached to such a level that it would massively blow up anytime.
There were two ways to reach SEZ. The first was where autos and cabs were running. The other way was used by buses and was always hit by traffic-jams. As the road was narrower and took more time to reach SEZ, people always preferred the first route irrespective of the point that they had to spend more money. When you earn more than enough, you don’t hesitate to spend for satisfactory service. The fare for the journey between railway station and SEZ was eight rupee for bus service, twenty rupee for cab service and thirty rupee for auto service.
Girish was doing well in business and earning good amount of money. Family was also happy to see more money flowing in home. All the needs and wants of family were easily fulfilled. He also started saving some money for his future. Earlier he cared a damn about his future and now he was thinking about it. The money really had changed his attitude towards his life. He started depositing his daily savings in bank. The money really had given him assurance that he made something in life. He was contented to see his parents happy and proud of him.
Though Girish was one of the cab drivers, he was least bothered about the civil war going on between autowallas and cab drivers till the time he was not fallen prey to the abuses of and the heated argument with autowallas. Playing the pranks upon each other had become the order of the day for them. The cab drivers were avoiding these autowallas because they knew if they hit back at autowallas, it would be an encouragement for them and they would then after abuse more and more cab drivers. The young blood could hardly bear the insult and he wanted to hit back at them but being younger in the group of cab drivers he tried to follow what elders said and what they did. He already had become a soft target for the autowallas. This happened because one day he was intimidated by some autowallas while he was driving back home after last trip in the night. He was so scared and did not even inform parents. Ever since for next one week he did not go to work and kept himself away from the eyes of other cab drivers. Many of his fellow cab drivers came home searching for him but could find him. Observing that Girish did not come to work, the group leader summoned him for enquiry. The message of group leader was conveyed to his parents. At first, Girish did not go to see him but one day the group leader himself came home while Girish was having dinner. There was no alternative for Girish to escape. He told him all that happened a week ago and how he was helpless to confront them. The group leader encouraged him to come at work and assured that he would talk to those autowallas. The next week onwards, Girish started running his cab. Though the encouraging words from the group leader and other cab drivers put the smile on his face, he was feeling slightly low in his heart. The autowallas always played little annoying pranks upon him like to cut him up while driving, not giving a free way to overtake, saying something vulgar without pronouncing his name when he passed by the autowallas. Following that incident he further kept his voice low and minded his own business.
In a move to attract people use their service, autowallas reduced the fare from thirty rupees to twenty rupees, what these cab drivers were charging. This added the fuel in the competition going on between both autowallas and cab drivers. To drive out this move by autowallas, the cab drivers showed knee-jerk reaction. They unanimously decided to reduce the fare from twenty rupees to fifteen rupees. Though this affected the margin, they were left with no option as people had started travelling by autos at the same fare. The move was intended not to lose the existing people who used the cab service and to add more people as the fare was less compared to that of autos. This helped cab drivers keep themselves up in the fierce competition but it had an adverse impact on the autowallas. They thought of this move as the slap in their face. Every move of them was counter-attacked with equal force and the autowallas were losers every time. They were burning deep inside and could find no solution to speed up their business. It was not the case that they were earning nothing but they wanted no one else in this business. They were concentrating on their competitors rather than their customers. And that tendency had been forcing them take such erroneous decisions. Playing each other out is a part of any business but it must not attain the level where it endangers someone’s life.
One fine evening all autowallas left earlier than the normal time. Not a single person was there at auto stand. All people coming out of SEZ were rushing towards the cabs. This kept all cab drivers busy as people did not have any better alternative but to use cabs. The buses were already running full. The cab drivers were taken aback by the suspicious move of autowallas. But how could they know what was going to happen in next few hours? The cab drivers informed their leader about autowallas’ move and asked him to look into the matter and get to know why they all together left so early. At SEZ, numbers of people had queued up long to get into the cab. The cabs were falling short to accommodate so many people. Today it was certain that cab drivers will have good amount of earning.
Not even one hour had passed when many autowallas gathered at one point along the way from station to SEZ. Today, they had clear intention of facing cab drivers head on. At nine in the evening, on his way back to SEZ, autowallas blocked Girish on the way. It was clear that they wanted their start to be better and they found no one other than him. There were no passengers in his cab. Roaring at him to come out of cab, one of the autowallas smashed the windshield of his cab with a stone. Girish started trembling to see the shattered pieces of glass. By the time he could say something to autowallas he was dragged out of his cab and got slaps and blows in the face and all over the body. This time also he was found to be a soft target for autowallas to strike the first blow. He was not so healthier to hit back at the autowallas. First time in his life he felt the importance of a strong body and ashamed himself of not having a good physique. Whatsoever, it was not a time to regret for anything. Autowallas started vandalizing his cab and his week retaliation hardly deterred them. By the time other cab drivers could know what was happening and come for his help, he was beaten hard and was moaning in pain in front of his damaged cab. The blood was oozing out of his right knee and chin. He could not stand even with his friends’ help. One of his fellow friends took him to the hospital bearing him on the shoulder. Tears were rolling down to see the damaged cab in front of his eyes. The pain of seeing the vandalized cab was more piteous than that caused by autowallas’ kicks and punches.
It was no time to hold the discussion about why autowallas thrashed Girish and damaged his cab. The cab drivers also were prepared for a fight as they wanted to end this matter forever. Seeing Girish’s vandalized car, cab drivers attacked autowallas. The roars of everyone roused the anger among them and everyone hit others hard with more power. A little while, some of the autowallas and cab drivers were lying on the ground in pain. Some had fled the site while some were still fighting. Their shirts and uniforms were splashed in the blood. Despite facing powerful blows and blood being oozed out of body they were not ready to stop at that moment. The autowallas wanted to hit cab drivers hard so that today onwards they will forget the thought of running the cab service. The cab drivers also wanted to teach autowallas a lesson for the entire life.
For some people the fight ended up in jail while for others it ended up in the hospital. Fortunately there was no death toll but serious head injuries and fractures had been encountered. The bone of contention had been anger, the anger which had been brooding deep inside their hearts since so many days. They could have stopped this anger being overpowered their mind and sorted the ways out to live in the win-win situation. But all that happened caused no gain but complete loss. They had damaged each others’ cabs and autos. Now, no one was there to compensate for the damage. The cab drivers were at no fault as the autowallas had started the quarrel without any legitimate reason. The damage was more to autowallas, but cab drivers also could not escape the whip of quarrel.
The aftermath of the quarrel had seen its impact not only on the transportation business but their families suffered to great extent. The transportation service was hindered for two weeks. People here at SEZ felt bad and everyone was touched to hear what had happened. During those two weeks time, some people started coming to office by bike. Also the construction of over-bridge was completed after many hurdles and postponements. The people had switched to the option of travelling by bus with less traffic jam problems. People did not hesitate to switch over to bus facility. It was much cheaper as compared to autos and cab service. The bridge had eased the traffic problem and strikingly reduced the travelling time. People started using bus service. This had greatly affected the business of autowallas and cab drivers. The quarrel had taken its toll with financial losses for both groups. Many were admitted to the hospital and had to stay in hospital for over a month. Many autowallas changed the route of their business while many cab drivers left the business and started looking out for other work. This lowered the money-flow in the houses of cab drivers. For Girish, he was very young and did not bother to leave the business. He recovered from his injuries within one month. He returned the vehicle to his maternal uncle. He had fractured his hand and broken his nose. Certainly being a soft target, he had fallen prey to the angst of autowallas and had paid a price for it. The family had been very supportive through his ups and downs and this time also they did not look down upon him and encouraged him to take up another job. They believed in the abilities of Girish and they knew he would succeed in future. That was his real strength. He learned a lot and was looking forward to a future wherein challenge would be there but it would not result into any kind of such fatal rivalry.
*****
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