Dear, ...........,
Namaskar. I shall describe a very interesting character that I met when I
was in All India Radio. He was called Mehrajuddin. He was a very interesting
character. He was employed as a helper – a post almost same level as a peon in
a government office. He happened to live a short distance from our home. Our
home area was a predominantly a Hindu area. He lived with his wife and young son
in that house. Although he had a low-level job, he would dress well. He would
easily make friends. In office during a shift, most incoming calls on the phone
would be for him. He was a very good story teller. He would spice up the
stories which all of us would enjoy to listen. He would sell radio sets to staff on
installment basis. He would go to Delhi and buy local made radio sets. Then he
would carry them to Srinagar. If the radio set would cost him Rs. 100/-, he
would quote Rs. 200/- to the buyer. He would take half of the price in cash
against delivery and rest in four/five monthly installments. This way, he
earned a good amount every month. He has more friends among Hindus than his own
community. He had a great sense of humor.
During the Muslim fasting month – Ramadan, he would be on shift duty with
us. He would eat all day with us. This was not known to his mother and wife who
would every morning feed him and later when he would return home, he would
break “fast” in a most religious manner. He would often say that if what is
written in their holy book is correct, then on the judgement day, he would be
the first person to be punished because all day he would be eating with us “Kafirs”
(as the Muslims would call us) during the month while his family firmly
knew that he had fasted the full month.
He would be spending almost all his time with us. A colleague of ours - a
Hindu was getting married. Those days, the community meals would be served to
the guests while they would be seated. The food would be served to them by
volunteers each of whom would carry each preparation and then serve it on the thali
(plate) of each of the guests. Usually, Hindus volunteers would serve during
the function in a Hindu houses while Muslims would do it in Muslim functions. Mehrajudin
was also a volunteer in this Hindu function. He assumed the name – Maharaj Krishen
on this day. He was in the process of serving the guests, when by chance a
Hindu lady who was his neighbour recognised him. She shouted to other guests
around, that the server was Mehrajudin the son of Zeana. As soon as Mehrajudin
heard it, he fast tracked back to the kitchen and announced that he had been
recognised as a Muslim guy. He then remained in the background. Some other
volunteer told the guests that the lady appeared to have made a mistake in
recognising him because he was actually Maharaj Krishen. (There was a risk otherwise - all guests would have refused to eat.)
Mehrajudin was a person for all jobs. Word “No” was not in his dictionary.
We would ask him to buy our bus tickets and get front seats allotted when we
knew that the same were not available. He would go and get it. We had a Station
Engineer. He was South Indian. He was short statured and had some slight abnormality
in one of his eyes. He had a terrible inferiority complex. One day he had
guests and they wanted to visit Gulmarg. He went to the Tourist Reception
Centre to buy the tickets. He requested for front seats. The ticket clerk told
him that all front seats were already booked. The boss did not buy the tickets.
He returned to office. He called Mehrajudin and told him about his failure to
get the desired seats. Mehrajudin told him that it was not a problem at all. He
said confidently that he would be able to get the desired seats. But the boss
insisted that he would accompany him. (Tourist Reception Centre was a walkable
distance away from the All India Radio office.) Mehrajudin approached the
Ticket window and got the tickets with front seat allotment. (He told the clerk
in local language that the tickets were for his boss and he needed the front
seats to impress him. The clerk obliged by opening booking for another bus.)
When Mehrajudin handed over the tickets to the boss standing at a distance from
the ticket window, he was astonished to see the front seat booking. He went
back to the ticket window with Mehrajudin trying to stop him. The boss asked
the clerk how he had given front seat tickets now when he had refused the same
to him a short time back. At this, the clerk took the tickets back and told him
that no tickets are available for him. He started returning the money. At this
stage Mehrajudin intervened and requested the clerk to hand over the tickets
back. The boss had to cool himself off. His dignity was hurt.
Mehrajudin had bought a second-hand jeep. He wanted to get appointed to a
technician post. He was trying his best to impress the boss. The boss along with his wife would every evening walk from his
residence to Lal Chowk (a distance of about 1.5 Kilometers) to buy vegetable. One
day by chance Mehrajudin saw them at Lal Chowk. He offered them a ride to their
home in his jeep. After that day, he would position himself at Lal Chowk in the
evening and then give them a ride. One day the boss asked him, “Mehrajudin, Yeh Kiska
Gaadi hai?” Mehrajudin replied “Jinaab, Yeh hamarah hai”. Then the boss did not speak. The wife must have heard the conversation. It appears that the
wife must have taken a class of her husband, the boss on that day evening. (She
must have told him that his Helper had a vehicle whereas he being the top boss
did not have one.) Next day, the boss called Mehrajudin and told him. “Hamara
mem sahib bolta hai ki hum ko gaadi kareedna chaihiyeh” Mehrajudin replied, “Jinaab
zaroor khareedna chaiye. Aap farmaiyey kab aap kee pasand key liye pesh karon”
The boss said, that the gaadi may be shown to him on next Sunday. Mehrajudin
got hold of a car reseller and took him in a car to the boss on Sunday. The
boss inspected the car, had its bonnet raised and then inspected the engine
etc. Then all three went inside. The boss asked him what the selling price of
the car was. The reseller said, Rs. 20,000/- Then the boss shouted some sentences
in Tamil language for his wife in other room. The wife replied back in the same
language. Then the boss announced “Mem sahib bolta hai Rs. 1000/-“ Hearing
this, the car reseller, had bad words (in local language not understood by the
boss) for the boss and got up to leave. Mehrajudin begged him to take his
seat. He was asked to lower the price. He lowered it to Rs. 19,000/- The boss
conveyed the new price to his wife in the same manner as earlier. On hearing
the response from the wife, the boss raised the price to Rs. 1,500/- The to and
fro continued for about half an hour with the reseller threatening to leave
about a dozen times. Ultimately the deal was done at Rs. 7,000/- (I met this “boss”
at a parking lot in Delhi some years later. He pointed to the car which he said
he had bought in Srinagar) I later learnt that Mehrajudin had arranged a driver
to drive it to Delhi as the Boss lacked confidence.
Bye today. More of Mehrajudin tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment