WISDOM OF GOD

A painting by Aljazeera K R

WISDOM OF GOD

“They live a world apart.

But they see no variance.

They have no idea of the various divides.

They are blessed with the wisdom of God.

And they know,

They are all siblings.”

Thirty five year old Shiju, and his family, lived in Bengaluru. It was a little family - Chitra, his wife, and Anand, his only son. Shiju was taking his family to ‘Iskcon’ temple in Yeshwantpur, in their newly purchased ‘Skoda Rapid’ car. Chitra was the same age as Shiju, and Anand was three.

It was Friday, and Shiju had taken a day off from his work, as it was his son’s 3^rd birthday. Shiju worked with HSBC bank as a ‘scale-3’ Senior Manager. Chitra was a former employee at the Indian Software Company, ‘Infosys’. She had resigned three years ago, to take care of her son.

They reached the ‘Mekri’ Circle, one of the major road Junctions on the way to ‘Iskcon’ Temple. It was an unusual bottleneck, and the ‘Green’ signals were turning out to be just reasons to press the gas and brake, with no significant movement at all, for the vehicles. 

Chitra sank low in the rear seat as the vehicle itched forward. She wondered why only the four-wheelers bore the brunt of the busy roads. The two-wheelers, having the ability to sneak in wherever and however they want to; acquiring some sort of self-acclaimed immunity to the lane rules; only made some progress. Scratches never threatened them.

The  Traffic light  showed ‘Green’ for sixty seconds, and Shiju pulled the hand brake yet again, as the color turned ‘Red’ from ‘Yellow’.

Like every other kid, Anand had the habit of hopping inside the car, when it was on the move. As this disturbed Shiju’s concentration while driving, Chitra and Anand, were never allowed to sit in the front seat. But even then, the issues that usually arise out of Anand’s cranky behavior, were something that irked Shiju every time.

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Talking about roads in Bengaluru, once the vehicles stop at major road junctions, usually three clans attack them. First, the ‘Hawkers’. ‘Hawkers’ attack only the four-wheelers. They bring locally manufactured coolers, clothed stickers in black color to ward of the scorching sunlight, holders for GPS devices and mobiles, toys, and whatnot. These materials have a peculiarity. The prices…

Prices claimed by the vendors, would go down with each and every ‘NO’ by the passenger, finally ending up at a meager 10% of the former price set by the vendor - bargain at its best, was alive in the streets. Now, this is just one clan.

The second clan who attack the four-wheelers and two-wheelers together with an unambiguous mindset is of the ‘Beggars’. They never bargain or ask for a specific amount. Instead, they catch the sympathy of people, with their humble requests, desolate looks, and sad stories. They have the professional ability to understand what runs inside the mind of the passenger, with one single look at their eyes. They randomly move here and there around the vehicles, and once they discover a touch of sympathy in the eyes of the passenger, they would halt and start pressing them for money. In this way, they never wasted their time, and were thorough with the tactical know-how for the business.

And the the third clan - ‘Transgenders’, or rather phony Transgenders. Some roam about the streets demanding money as they have no other means for bread-winning. While some people dress up like them, just to earn money easily. This clan arrives, clapping their hands at the passengers, throwing at them some very peculiar gestures belonging to their gender alone, asking for money. The difference they have from beggars is that they never settle for any petty amounts. They are stalkers who extract a good income at ease. It is a common belief that their curses are very dangerous. So, people, fearing the repercussions of neglect, give them a minimum of Rs. 10, and dispose them ASAP.

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Inside the car, Shiju’s son started to cry. “Chitra, feed him some milk. I think he is hungry.” Shiju said.

Chitra replied in a worried tone, “He threw the feeding bottle on the floor five minutes ago. It’s all dirty now. How do I feed him in with bottle, without cleaning it?”

She was thoughtful for a moment and then asked, “Shall I down the window glass and clean it?”

Shiju frowned and replied, “No. No. We can’t do it now. It’s full of rush here. I will stop somewhere once we pass this signal. Meanwhile, you give him some chocolate bread or something. That will keep him quiet for some time. Or, try giving him those biscuits. It’s inside the red bag.”

Chitra nodded and opened the red bag. She exclaimed, “Oh Oh… It’s full of ants. The zip was half open it seems.”

Shiju sniggered and asked in a sarcastic tone, “Who opened it? Not me,” He strongly added “Either you, or your son.”

Chitra looked up from her bag, raised her eyebrows, and said, “Not me… and I think it is OUR son. It’s our son who did it.”

Anand, during this point of time, was striving to reach for the biscuits.  Chitra tried to stop him and said, “See…  Now, you have given him a new reason to cry and fight.”

“Don’t blame me,” Shiju said. “Don’t just put it on my head.”

“Biccaaa…. Bicca….  Mummy…. I want Biccaa….” Anand was crying.

“Oooh. He is getting on my nerves. Will you please give him that chocolate cake or something, and stop talking like we have don't have anything else to feed him in this car.” Shiju said in an irritated tone.

It was then, that one of the clans attacked Shiju’s car. Clan number two. It was a woman. 

The woman wore shabby dress, which was torn here and there. She was black in colour, which might be genuinely black, or might be a colour imprinted on her body by a mixture of dust, smoke, and sunlight. The woman was chewing tobacco, and her lips were wet with red. She had cloth tied around her right shoulder, like a bag, carrying a baby about the same age as Anand inside. 

No one could guess if it was a boy or a girl. This child’s eyes were looking tired, with parched lips and mouth wide open, and barely had anything on the body, to be termed ‘dressed’.

The woman came and knocked at the window. Shiju, with an angry note, waved his hand, gesturing the woman to go away from his side of the car. Chitra hadn’t noticed the woman at all. Anand, on the other hand, was attracted to the woman and more particularly, the child inside the woman’s shoulder bag. Trying to show them to his mother, he said in a sweet voice, “Moma… Baby….” He was pointing his finger at their direction. Anand was a cute little boy, with fair skin. It was difficult for somebody to fail to notice him, when he usually said something in his sweet voice. 

Chitra looked to her side, and saw the woman leaning on the car. The woman saw Chitra looking at her, and immediately came towards the backseat window. She then extended her hand at her, expecting some money. She was saying something, which was not audible at all, as all the windows were shut. Chitra said to her son, “Yes! Look… It’s a baby.” The child inside the shoulder bag lifted the head up. Anand and the child started exchanging smiles. The child outside was trying to reach out for Anand’s face, seen through the glass. This child was was on full swing, with eyes gleaming in happiness. Anand was waving his hand, explaining mystic things to the child. The child in the shoulder bag did the same thing and Anand was laughing in full spirit, as if the child had cracked a wild joke.

Shiju shouted, “Now don’t give them a chance to stay. Will you please stop encouraging them?”

Chitra shouted back, “Then come here and dance in front of your son to keep him quiet. Can you do that?”

Shiju pursed his lips to this attack by his wife. He mumbled something under his breath.

Chitra didn’t stop there. She continued, “It’s his birthday and there is nothing wrong in spending some money for a good purpose. And if you can’t do it, I'l give them money. We are not going to go bankrupt because of this.”

Shiju said, “All right. All right. I will give. Just… Stop talking.”

Taking from his purse a five-rupee bill, he opened the glass and gave it to the woman. Anand was hitting the glass, with his golden bangle. Chitra, on seeing this, opened the glass a wee bit, trying to calm him down. Here, the babies started chatting with each other, in an alien language. The sight was mesmerisingly beautiful.  At this moment, Chitra, taking advantage of the situation, like mothers usually do, rooted through her bag and took the chocolate bread. She slowly tried to stuff it inside Anand’s mouth. 

Anand, like he knew what was coming, defended the move and warded off his mother’s hand, with a full swing of his hand. The chocolate cake ended up flying outside, travelling from Chitra’s hand through the small gap she had left open in the window, falling on the road. The signal turned ‘Green’. Shiju released the hand brake and pressed the gas.

The honking sounds were loud and Shiju, apprehensively, checked around to see if any window glass was open.

“What the heck? Close the window,” He shouted “What if the lady jumped and had touched our kid with her dirty hands. Worst, what if she tried to snatch that golden chain from his neck? What an idiot you are, Chitra?”

Defending her action, Chitra shouted, “I didn’t leave enough space for any of these to happen, and also, he was in my hand… It was impossible for that woman to reach him, even if she wanted to.”

“You defend! That’s what you do. You would have been crying and not talking like this if any of that happened...”

The argument went on non-stop.  

Here Anand’s eyes were shining like he won something. His smile widened, as if his hidden plan had worked. He was happy and was jumping up and down, inside the car. 

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The woman, just as Shiju said, had jumped for sure, but not at Anand, but to a different direction once the car had started to move. She had seen a piece of cake falling down on the street, from inside the car. She bent down, and took the cake, which was lying on the road, without paying much attention to anything else around. A bike which was coming from behind, screeched to halt, avoiding a hit. The driver cursed at the woman, “Hey idiot. Don’t you have any sense? Bloody beggars!”

Taking the bread, she hurried to the nearby road divider, and sat there. She then cleaned the bread piece in her hand with her saree tip, and fed it to her daughter. Her child was smiling, and she was happy. 

It was a baby girl and she was busy looking at the road, to the direction where the vehicles were moving, searching for the small boy who had made her smile. She didn’t notice her mother feeding her the bread piece. But once the bread piece touched her lips, she opened her mouth immediately and ate it; she had been hungry for a long time and the bread piece wasn’t enough for her, but she was smiling… She was smiling with all her heart….

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The car had started to cross the signal. The argument between Shiju and Chitra was still on. Anand jumped on to his mother’s shoulder, and with a smile, looked at the mother and child, who were seen running towards the road divider, through the rear glass. As they were moving very slowly, he could see the baby’s face still, looking at his direction. Anand smiled at the baby. 

Nobody knows if they saw each other. 

Anand was not able to control his happiness. He started to shake his head and laugh like never before. This was when the second piece of bread came to his mouth. Anand ate it without putting up a fight.

And they ate together…