Random Conversation

On my way home after a day long seminar I had a nice conversation with my rickshaw driver that left me feeling happy. It was just a regular tale of good, hardworking people trying to better their lot in life. But these stories always make me feel glad and (I don't know why and it does seem condescending to say so but) proud of them in a way.

He started the conversation commenting on how the weather today spoke of coming rain, even though the monsoon is two months away. And about how it has become quite hot since the past few days and that it will get even worse. He continued to say how difficult his sons are finding it to study for their exams in this heat and so he has bought them two fans that he lets run throughout the day. The rest of the conversation was centered around the two of them. Both his kids are studying chartered accountancy. Knowledge of that fact really impressed me because anyone who knows rickshaw drivers in India, knows that they are not the most well off and are mostly uneducated. The latter was confirmed to me at a later stage in the conversation. He went on to say that his only dream was for his kids to get an education so that they did not have to drive a rickshaw like him. His kids have apparently always scored high in their exams (88% in the 10th, 86% in BCom) and have even received prizes from their college for their performance. He spoke like a true proud papa, who can see the result of his long years of hard work in front of his eyes. And that was it. The conversation ended there, I had reached my destination. I will probably never meet this man again (and never get to know the exact percentage his sons score in their CA exams :), but I am happy being reminded that such people live in this world.

On a daily basis we are bombarded with news about murder, rape, theft, fraud. It would be nice to hear simple, positive stories once in a while. It's just a pity that they don't sell.