Of all the acquaintances that I have had in life, my rickshaw man remains ineffaceable in my memories. A casual interaction with my cousin was an occasion to recall him. We (I and my cousin) first entered school at the age of four. Our parents hired a rickshaw man, Mani, to take us to and back from school, as it was too far by foot. We fondly called him Mani uncle and in turn he called us “dollies”. He was one of the most honest persons I have ever met.
Those days schools used to start at 9 am. His cycle bell would chime at our doorstep at 8.45 sharp. He would help us climb up and seat us comfortably. Unlike these days rickshaws were never bursting at the seams then.
The 15-minute ride would be more of a question-and-answer session. Happenings at school, favourite dishes and sports would dominate. Perhaps he relished the way we jabbered. On reaching school he would walk us to the classrooms. As he left, we would wave to him, with tears trickling down our faces. To us, he was a father figure.At 3 pm sharp, he would pick us up from school. Twice a week we were treated to ice-cream sticks, for which he paid out of his pocket. Despite our incessant cribbing, he would restrict it to just the two, out of fear that we would fall sick.
Due to some reason he was once late when coming to pick us up at school, which made me cry. My cousin, a brave kid, consoled me saying that he would hire another rickshaw, which earned him sharp stares from guards.A few minutes later, we saw our saviour pedalling fast to school. After he reached us, we ran into his hands with a sense of relief and happiness enveloping us. He promised he would never be late in the future and wiped our tears.
We did not attach such sweet gestures much importance then, but retrospection made us hold him several notches up. However, we eventually changed our place of residence and subsequently changed schools too. Though he did not take us to school anymore, he visited frequently.Bogged down by changes in our lives, we became distant and his visits stopped.
Had I a time machine, I would wind back the time to my good old days so that I could be close to my conscientious and adorable rickshaw man.