A colleague comes from a
naxal-affected belt of Odisha. Midst the raging debate on Naxals between the
pro- and anti- factions at the workplace after the recent Naxal attacks, in
Chhattisgarh and on train in Bihar, he narrated a small but touching incident that
came across him few years ago while he was visiting his native place.
One day, visiting a rural area,
he took a tea-break at a roadside tea-stall in a tribal locality.
He ordered his tea and was
loitering here and there when he found a youth who must be in early 20’s
staring at him with eyes of anticipation.
Clad in a worn-out and oversized
outfit on a lanky built, his eyes were bulging out and he was walking
absent-minded across the tiny space in front of the tea-stall as if looking
desperately for some lost possession.
The colleague asked the youth if
he needed something. The brief conversation went on like this:
Colleague: Why are you looking at
me like this? Do you need something?
Youth: Sahab (Sir), can you buy
me a cup of tea? I do not have even a penny for many days.
My colleague was not suspicious
of what the youth had just said. Extreme poverty was a known thing in that area
and it was more severe in case of the tribal populations which were gradually
being displaced from the lands and forests without being provided an
alternative to earn the livelihood. They were simply being robbed of the only
thing they had, the nature with its resources that had sustained them for
generations.
Colleague: Sure, why not. (To the
tea vendor) – Please add one more cup to my order.
It was not a smile but a glint of
anticipation that ran thought the face of the youth on hearing it. Though he
was restrained, his eyes were saying that he wanted to say something more.
Reading this, my colleague asked him?
Colleague: Anything else?
Youth: Sahab, I am hungry. I have
not eaten anything since last evening.
Colleague: But it is just a
tea-stall. It offers just tea and biscuits.
Youth: Sahab, can you buy me a
biscuit?
Colleague: But that won’t satisfy
your hunger. Take this money from me and buy some food. Okay, but finish your
tea and biscuits first.
My colleague, seeing his hunger,
as was clear from the youth’s body language, ordered five biscuits.
As if something shocking happened,
the youth got shocked on hearing it. He was standing there, mouth agape, as if
he had heard something unbelievable. The tea-vendor had to shake him up to give
him the biscuits.
Suddenly, the youth started
weeping. My colleague, though aware of the extreme poverty of the area, was now
shocked to see the response.
Tears were there in the youth’s
eye but his face was now echoing an expression of joy that someone exudes on
getting something very precious.
Youth (with tearful eyes but a
beaming face): Sahab, for the last five years, I was thinking of having this
biscuit but could not have money to buy it. So many times, I thought if I could
earn something extra, I would buy this biscuit for me and my family. Can I eat
one and take the rest for my family?
His question brought my colleague
back but he was still in the state of shock. Now, tears were visible in his
eyes. He could not answer the youth’s request. He simply bought a packet of the
biscuit, handed it over to the youth with some money to buy food, left his tea
unfinished and left the tea-stall absent-minded.
Millions of the tribals like the
youth mentioned here cannot even think to buy a biscuit that costs a Rupee.
They are also Indians. That is also an India.
How many of us know about these
Indias?
Why are we killing our own
people?
Why are we pushing our own
countrymen to such extreme misery?
Why are pushing them to act in a
way so that later on, we can brand them as Maoists or Naxals and order their
ruthless eradication?
Why are creating circumstances to
foster ideologies like Naxalism or Militant Maoism?