BUS HAWKERS

‘Which bird could carry the elephant in its claws and fly?', ‘Which Indian state has no Hindu Temple?' ‘Which animal can live whole life without drinking water?' ‘Which bird never touches the ground?' ‘Which king made it compulsory to smoke tobacco?' ‘What's the name of president and of which country whose wife was abducted by orangutan?

Question after question!! That man was speaking at full throat in one breath and I knew answer of none :(. I was traveling in capital city of India, Delhi and that was a bus hawker selling his booklets. Bus hawkers are versatile in delivering fixed presentations, making their goods sound best in the world. Someone comes with a remedy for teeth problems. ‘Babuji (Sir)! You apply a little amount of our white powder in your rotten tooth and it will chase away the worm and make your tooth healthy!' I think dentists are going to loose their business in competition with such cheap, quick and sure shot remedies :-)). Surely some of them really deserve to be out of business, the bus hawkers selling tooth remedies are far better than them. Our former dentist who acclaims to be foreign qualified drilled teeth of half of our family for no obvious reason :((. Every visit to dentist would mean discovery of a new cavity. He would show us charts and explain that cavity has reached a certain stage and require some drilling for cleaning and filling and I always believed that doctor is always right, I was wrong. Once my brother felt a little pain in tooth and went with me to doctor. He was also shown charts and told of filling requirement. My brother made some excuse and said that he would come on some other day. It is now more than 10 years and bro has never required any filling. ‘You need a RCT (Root Canal Treatment) to save your tooth', another cousin was told. It was expensive than the filling. Never mind, go ahead doctor, we are safe in your hands. In RCT the pain nerves in tooth are rooted out and sealed and the tooth never aches again. After 3 months of unsuccessful treatment, gulping a lot of antibiotic and anti inflammatory medicines, the cousin was still living in agony. Tooth aches are worse than stomach and head aches. We were getting uncomfortable with the doctor. At last he referred us to another doctor in our own city without giving any reference slip!! Another doctor checked the tooth and said, 'Why you make a mess of your teeth by going to quacks?' I said, 'But doctor! That man acclaims to be foreign qualified and displays a lot of awards in his clinic.' New doctor just smiled and said nothing as if saying that we should have checked his certificates. It took only 2 sittings on 2 consecutive days and total about 25 minutes and all was ok!! What about the charges? They were 5 times lower than what that quack had charged for causing agony for 3 months. Sorry Doctors, I have deep and un-shaking faith in your curing abilities, you are saviors of mankind, but there are good and bad in all of us.

      Where we had started? We were in the bus talking about hawkers. Sometimes I am too far carried away by the flow. Life itself is a flow and I feel myself drifting in it. There are too many subjects to concentrate on, looking London-talking Tokyo-walking Washington-writing Rome :-)). That book seller hawker was getting attention of all people with his interesting and ‘no one knows the answer questions.' At the end comes the price of booklet, Rupees 5/- (USD 0.11). I can't stand so much curiosity like half of the people in bus, a good sale for the hawker. Wish I could sell my things like that. Quite knowledgeable hawker; may be he should compete for civil services. I left my chance; I prepared, applied and never appeared for the examination. It's life, no regrets and I am drifting calmly. I have pacified my curiosity by spending Rupees 5 for the booklet. Do you want to know the answers of such interesting questions?  It's better to buy the booklet from me. As I have only one copy I'd like an auction for that and my starting bid is Rupees 50 :) May be I should go to some big auction house with a starting bid of Rupees 500. The booklet has more intrinsic value as I have to still lift its cover, its unopened, unread and a good opportunity for investors. 10% of sale value of booklet shall go to welfare, yes you are right, it shall go to my welfare and the balance 90% shall be kept by auction house for its services. I am closing the bid in August 2024, short time, please don't hurry, think calmly and submit your bid today.

      Hawker after hawker keeps coming in buses in India. I don't know how much sales they make but surely they entertain passengers with their presentations. Another boy comes with his plastic sheets. ‘Don't worry about infants urinating in bed mattresses, this plastic sheet shall protect against wetness. This sheet can be washed, twisted in any way.' For a demonstration he gathers it, twists it with full force, open, stretch it violently making phatak, phatak sound!!. No wrinkles, no tearing, price only Rupees 20/- (USD 0.45). Ok dear, your sheet is good but I don't need it yet :-))

      Delhi is a vibrant city and crowdy too. Some years before if I ever had to go there, I won't stay even an hour more than required. It was hopelessly polluted and breathing in open air was hard. Now a days situation has improved and air is getting fresh again. Mainly it was traffic and industrial pollution. Public transport vehicles have been converted from diesel to CNG and polluting industries have been shifted elsewhere. Good work, I hope in next 10 years the situation shall improve further. Still a lot of slums and dirty places are there which shall eventually be cleaned.