A rendezvous with a fruit-seller.

Whenever I look for inspiration, my first month struggle at Mumbai always comes to my help. I was new to Mumbai with limited idea of human skins clashing in Mumbai Local trains and the daily struggle for basic amenities.

When we (me and my roommate from IIM Kozhikode) arrived at Mumbai, we were duped by an agent and were made to stay in a claustrophobic room by a very busy street in Goregaon. The fan in the room was so slow that the May heat and sweat left us feeling miserable. Every time we tried to open the big window to get some fresh air, a cat used to crawl in and shit in our dirty floor. So to avoid the cat shit, we used to sleep with all doors and windows closed.

For me being unable to sleep, in such conditions, I used to tire myself further so that the sleep would come easily. Mentally I came back tired after dealing with a very difficult boss, but that was further a deterrent to my sleep. So I would try walking miles to get that physical fatigue so that when I laid on the bed, my physical stress would not let the combined mental stress of a difficult boss and the heat in the room come between me and my sleep.

So this story is of one of those walks, when I heard a beautiful song from the movie Umrao Jaan on the radio on a footpath. Some people were sleeping on the footpath and I recognised them. They sold fruits on the fruit shop below my room. You know footpaths in Mumbai are used for walking in the day, as street shops in the evening and sleeping beds in the night.

I sat down there and initiated a talk with one of the guys listening to the radio. His name was Gokul Naresh Yadav. He was from Faizabad in UP. People in his town called him Pagla for his crazy dreams and crazy talks. So here goes the conversation:

Me: Gokul teri shaadi ho gayi hai? (Gokul, are you married?)
Gokul: Haan, Aarifa se (Yes, with Aarifa)

He shows me the photograph. A beautiful girl in a saree and our Gokul Naresh Yadav.

Me: Aarifa?? Ye kaisa naam hai? (Aarifa, what sort of name is that?)
Gokul:Muslim hai. Shaadi kiye hain. Love marriage. (She is a Muslim. I have married. Love Marriage)

Me: Ye kaise? Woh bhi Faizabad mein? (How come? And that too in Faizabad?)
Gokul: Kya bataayein? Hum football khel rahe the. Teen ladkiyaan humein burqa pehne dekhne aati thi. Jo sabse lambi thi use maine bola burqa hataane..usne hataaya..chaand thi woh..humne apne sapne ke baare mein bataaya..use acchaa lagaa.(What shud I say? I was playing football and 3 girls clad in burqa used to visit us.. The tallest one, I asked her to lift her burqa, she removed, she was like moon..later, I told her about my dreams..she liked them)

Me: Cricket nahi khelte ho? (Dont you play cricket?)
Gokul: Arre nahi, hum bahut accha bowling karte the..baad mein pata chal throw phekte the..bahut koshish kiye phir se..(No,I used to bowl very well..but later I realised that I used to chuck the ball..Later I tried hard)

Me: Shaadi mein koi baadhaa? (Any objection in marriage)
Gokul: Shuru mein sab hasne lage..soche pagla hai..kuch bhi bolta hai..par humne shaadi kar liya mandir mein..ladki ko ghar se nikaal diya..meri maa bahut royi ..par baad mein maan gayi..boli tu laaya hai tu hi khilaa..isiliye bambai aaye hain (Initially they all laughed thinking I was mad. They said I speak crap but I married her in the temple. She was thrown away from her home. My mom cried a lot but later she accepted her. She said, u brought her, u feed her. Hence I came to Bombay)

Me: Bahut maante ho Aarifa ko? (You like Aarifa a lot?)
Gokul: Ek wahi hai jo humein paagal nahi samajhti..Ek naseehat dete hain-usi se shaadi karna jo aapko aapke sapne ke liye pyaar kare, naaki aapke vartamaan ke liye..(She is the only one who doesnot think i am mad..One advice I would give you-Always marry a girl who loves u for your dreams.. not for what u are today...)

Me: Chhutti par kya karte ho? (What do u do on holidays?)
Gokul: Chhutti milti hai kabhi kabhi, phal bech kar. hum goregaon se churchgate kaa local pkadte hain aur marine drive par jaa kar baith jaate hain. bahut shaanti milti hai..samundar ajeeb cheez hai..gareeb ameer mein koi fark nahi kadti. (I get holidays rarely. I catch a local to churchgate and go and sit on marine drive. I get peace there. This sea is very strange. It does not differentiate between rich and poor)

(True.now it reminds me of Tsunami in Japan. It did not differentiate. The wrath or the peace,the sea treats us the same)

Me: Bahut bolte ho yaar? (U speak a lot)
Gokul: Saab bechne waale log hain...bolenge nahi to khareedega kaun? (Sir, we are salesmen. If we don't speak, then who would buy from us?)

The next day, I gave Gokul Naresh Yadav my phone and asked him to use it and talk to his wife in lieu of the beautiful story he had told me the previous night.

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PS: I would like to dedicate this post to the 15 day old baby Aarya. The most beautiful line in this post has been quoted by her mother.