What a Waste! (Part III)

Recently, one boy, who had just completed his HSC, contacted my cousin sister Gayatri asking her how to become an entrepreneur. His father is the waterman in my sister’s area. His father cannot afford his further education. And the family belongs to the open category. She told him to first get the Economically Backward Class certificate, complete his education and then think of becoming an entrepreneur.

When my sister told me about this incident, I remembered this story, What a Waste! (Part III), that I had written years ago. I am sharing it with you here:

What a Waste! (Part III)

“Oh God, no,” everything was falling into place now. Brahma Bhatt’s superior had somehow thrown him out of the job just because he was a Brahmin. How nasty! This way a time would come that Brahmins would need to assert themselves and ask for a reserved category named after them. And all because some unseen ancestor of theirs had tortured some unseen ancestors of Harijans. And Mumbai claims to be cosmopolitan!

“Now, I don’t have any other alternative than to commit suicide.”

She just stared at him. This was not justified. Enmity handed down from generation to generation suited for Bollywood movies only. But, this kind of enmity against a whole community did not fit into the larger scheme of things in the present day and age. This kind of catching hold of victims when he is the most vulnerable reflected animalistic behaviour. “And I thought human beings are the most refined creatures,” she thought.

Another thought struck her was Brahma Bhatt might be trying to gain sympathy and dupe her.

“What did he say was the reason for throwing you out of the job?”

“He says that I was there just for filling up a leave vacancy. The other person had returned, so I need to leave.”

“And you don’t believe it?”

“No, because my father’s friend had told me that he had created a vacancy just for me.”

“Did you speak to him?”

“No, I couldn’t. He’s gone out of town and will return the day after tomorrow.”

“Does he know about it?”

“I don’t know.”

“How can you say that it is because of your caste that you were thrown out?”

“I have been working here for the past 6 days. Every day, I used to get a taunt about my caste. He even used to pass wisecracks about Brahmins.”

“You could try elsewhere.”

“I cannot start again from scratch. The house rent must be paid, today. My family have their daily requirements. My younger sisters need to go to school or at least they need clothing.”

“Why don’t you just change your name?”

“That would be worse than suicide. You can’t help me, either. So, it’s goodbye, then.”

“What a way to go,” she turned away helplessly brushing a tear off her cheek as she heard a big thud on the railway tracks and a train on the fast track coming in that direction.

To be continued…