Thoughts of a Retiring Driver
Nek Chand, who had worked as a driver for more than three
decades was waiting at the bus stand to get the bus that will take him to his
native village. He felt that after retirement his life in the village would be
like a broken down vehicle full of inaction and ennui. While waiting for the
bus he was giving a last look to the bus stop and its offices where he had
worked all these years and commenced and completed many journeys successfully
ferrying passengers to their desired destinations safely. Al these three
decades here he had worked with people of diverse nature and some of them had
come to bid farewell to him with garlands in their hands. He was not only
thinking about his future as a retired driver in his village but he was also
moving down the memory lane of the past remembering numberless people and
incidents that he came across his chequered career.
Finally the bus came and his
colleagues made him sit comfortably in the front seat just besides the driver’s
seat, the place that he himself had occupied for more than three decades. He
had become a little sentimental when bus stared moving out of the bus stand and
he gave the last lingering look to the place that had been associated with him
all these years. In the past as a driver he considered himself as a Demi-God
controlling the lives and speed of the travelers. He had observed intently the
feelings of anguish, wonder , fear, disappointment and joy on the face of
travelers mostly through a little mirror placed just in front of him. Sometimes
they begged him to make the bus move faster lest they miss the connecting train
or bus. He also remembered vividly the expression of relief that came on the
face of most of the travelers when their journeys ended in the hoe of reaching
their sweet homes and meeting their near and dear ones. And he had also seen
expression of boredom and patience who had to go a long way before reaching
their destinations, as they could do nothing except relying on the efficiency
of driver to reach in time.
Suddenly the bus stopped in front of
a temple where driver offered Five rupees coin before resuming the journey so
as to seek divine blessings of goddesses so that he complete his task
successfully by taking passengers of his vehicle safely and comfortably to
their destination. Nek Chand remembered the first day of his job when the first
thing that he did after getting his appointment letter was to visit this temple
to seek the blessings of the goddesses. He had offered whatever he could
without fail to this temple whenever he came to this route. Bus was now
speeding towards a small town Noorpur, where he used to take his meals or a cup
of warm tea at a restaurant situated just outside the bus stand. Nek Chand was
overwhelmed when the pigmy statured, pot bellied owner of the restaurant gave
him a fine treat of hot Pakoras and a hot cup of tea as a farewell to him.
After stopping at this place for twenty minutes journey was resumed again. Due
to sultry weather Nek chand felt sleepy and he took brief nap, though he did
not remember to have dozing off while working as a driver in his entire career.
A sudden jerk broke his sleep and he realized that his native village was not
very far off now. Lights of his village were now visible . Here Nek Chand
remembered clearly how villagers, whose relatives were living and working in
the town, waited eagerly for letters and things that he brought for the people
of the village and in return he used to take letters and things from the
village to town, free of cost, purely out of his affection for his native
place. Sometime villagers gave respect to him by inviting him to their house
for meals or cup of tea. Bus came to dead stop at the bus stand which was
nothing more than a solitary shed situated outside the village. After
exchanging greetings with the driver of the bus who had stood up from his seat
to give respect to him he put down his first step on the soil of his village-
his motherland. This place appeared dearer to him than whole world and it
appeared him to that he has returned home after a long journey to spend the
rest of his life in the lap of his motherland.
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