He continued to serve his golgappa lovers without fail,
even when it was raining, even when the temperatures soared and dipped,
he continued to tingle our taste buds with his mouth watering golgappas,
I often envied his diligence, wondered what kept him going relentlessly,
often felt uneasy as I saw his bare hands dip in an out of the big pot of hot tamarind water,
until I finally decided to take a close look at his mechanical hands today....
To my horror, his right hand looked like over-marinated something, its hard to describe, it looked awfully repulsive, I almost threw up my last golgappa which I was still relishing in my mouth...What made me feel even more disgusted is the unavoidable sad fate he was headed for, his right hand seemed only little away from being clinically diseased. He is on the verge of losing his livelihood which has made him and his family survive for years (not to mention, various diseases his customers are prone to).
I said to him, "Look at your hands, soon they will be of no use", he only gave me a blank look in response. After a pause he said, "What to do, this is my job", I said, "But you could wear gloves, and only when your hands will be fine will you ever be able to continue doing this job (haath rahega tab to kijiyega kam)." Again a blank look. I was not willing to take it, I simply asked him, "Will you wear it, if I get it for you?", He simply nodded, it seemed like a yes.
I went straight to a local medical store. Asked the man behind the counter, do you have some kind of gloves, which you could possible wear while doing some household stuff, like touching food etc. He hinted at his helper, who in no time produced before me, what read, surgical gloves. He said it was of one of the best quality and that he uses it while washing dishes in winters. I was still doubtful of it going with hot tamarind water, day in and out. I kind of thought not to take it and started concentrating on my other to-buy list.
While I was waiting for order to arrive, I kind of again asked the man about it, I started telling him that I was actually going to give it to golgappa wala. He couldn't understand at first what I was talking about, he gave me several expression one by one, from disgusted (at hand dipping in tamarind water), perplexed (that I was going to give it to a popular golgappa wala in my colony), awed (when he queried about my job, and I told him what I do in general), and suddenly he acquired a gesture like we all do when we suddenly encounter somebody we think high of. He kept giving me a strange look till I paid off and finally walked out of the store.
When I got back to golgappa wala, as usual, he was surrounded by a big bunch of customers waiting in queue with saal-leaf bowl in hand. I approached him and handed over the gloves. I guess he smiled, I requested him, please wear it regularly. He instantly replied, "Its not gonna happen again, I'm going to wear it from tomorrow", I said, "Wear it now!",
He simply obeyed in haste as his loyal customers stared and waited for their golgappas to be placed in their bowls...
