The other day as I was coming back home from Nadra, a small village on the fringe of Burdwan, I saw a phoochkawala who was busy churning a tamarind water in an unusually glittering steel pot at the corner of Nadra road.
I slowed my scooter because I felt the phoochkawala taking longer time in stirring the pot than actually needed.
I went up to him to enquire if anything was wrong after parking my scooter close to a banyan tree at the other side of the road.
‘ I’ll continue to do it until any customer takes notice and comes.’ The phoochkawala said quite unabashedly.
‘So it’s your business trick.’ I said.
Phoochkawala smiled.
For next half an hour we struck a conversation ranging from petty family matters to price-rise to war to Virat Kohli to what not.
When I started going back to my parked scooter, he intervened.
‘Take this jol-phoochka, please,’ he said and dipping a deep- fried phoochka into the tamarind water he put it on a leaf-plate that he earlier gave to me.
The taste was tangy and brilliant.
I went on to gulp ten more phuchkas.
When I dashed my hands in pocket to give him a twenty rupee note, he refused to take any.
‘Why?’ I asked in wonder.
‘I’ve customers coming.’ He pointed at folks hovering around. ‘They’ re my regular customers.’ He said and took a pause. ‘I serve my customers. I serve my family as well. Nobody bothers to talk to me. They just demand; I duly serve.’
When I insisted on taking the twenty rupee note that got wet a bit in my sweaty hand, the phoochkawala observed loudly what I least expected from him, ‘Put back this note to pocket, dada, please.life is more than a twenty rupee note. Sharing and exchanging is what’s life… Business, though important, is bit secondary..’
As I stood on stunned, the phoochkawala said, ‘Evening’s coming. Go back home. Come again when you feel like talking to me.’
‘And you compensate my talking with phoochka..’ I added. He smiled.
‘Everybody hurries, nobody talks,’ phoochkawala said.
I’ ve found there is a mind hidden behind a stoic physique in every man one comes across. Strike the right chord of mind, it’ ll start playing.
Talking does that magic.
Start talking with known, unknown whoever comes your way.
Experience what is worthy to experience.