THE young man who would be about 26/27 years of age was originally from a remote village in the Balaghat district of Madhya Pradesh. Carpentry is their family occupation. I was amazed by his skill as he was creating beautiful wooden pieces of furniture in my house. They had a small parcel of land in the village which failed to feed them throughout the year. Moreover, since the rate for carpentry was too meager, the whole clan was struggling against abject penury for ages. One day his grandpa decided to shift to Nagpur considering availability of work and better wages. Since then they have become Nagpur residents of a hillside slum.

Getting to know he has no bank account, I suggested: “Government has issued Jan Dhan Yojna for you people to open accounts without deposit. Any financial aid received from Government would be directly deposited in the account.” The man smiled and said: “I heard a sarkari bank has come up in our village recently. Lekin rahene khane ke baad paisa hi nahi bachta to bank mein kya rakkhu, Saab!” I mulled over opening an account for the skilled artisan, wife prevented. She argued that a man who has not learnt to save anything for his own future cannot be saved by gifting an account.

One day I asked him: “How much do you earn on an average?” He startled me by saying: “Karib pachchish se chhabbish haajaar.” That was no mean an income to maintain a small family today. The puzzling question was why couldn’t he save anything then? On talking to him on more cordial terms, the background truth came out. At the end of every grueling day, the young man had a habit of drinking a peg or two from the bars. If pocket permitted, it would be branded alcohol, otherwise, plain country liquor! He coughs a lot and constantly munches ‘kharra’ from a packet kept in his sleeve. On my advice to visit a government hospital for treatment, the man said : “Kya faida, Saab? Time bahut kha jata, kaam dhanda band ho jata hein.” I said: “If your children do not feed you in old age, how would you survive with your wife?” The carpenter laughed like an innocent kid and said: “ After 60, who will survive, Sir? If we can manage to live upto that age, it is more than expected.” I could not utter anything, only stared at him with a sorry feeling. Poor chap! In a combination of ignorance, dry cough, liquor, ‘kharra’ and continuous inhalation of wood dust, he has surrendered to destiny without fight!

About his voting responsibilities, the carpenter was absolutely clear. Their whole village cast vote in favor of the candidate whom the Panchayat Pradhan suggests. It was the ‘Angrez’ in olden days, then it was ‘Kangrez’ and now it is ‘Bhajpa’. They have firm belief that elections have no role to play in their fate. Hence for a Kg. of rice or a bottle of liquor or petty cash, the simple craftsmen sell their democratic rights. It is an irony that in this land a group always agitates vociferously to snatch their special rights while the other group coughs and drinks to hasten death without knowledge of legitimate constitutional provisions. That reminds me the famous quote by Alexander the Great when he invaded India. “What a surprising country it is, Seleucus!”