Agniveers everywhere

"Aap ki gaadi tho phas gayi sir" 

He joined me as I looked in disbelief at my new car that just got its first dose of reality.

 When I chose the parking slot in the morning, it looked like the perfect spot to easily reach the exit on my way out. So I manuvered the car to park there after driving through the spot just behind. If I had chosen the other lane then I'd had to do a reverse parking which is a pain. For various reasons I couldn't see a large box hanging down the roof at the entrance of the parking slot (if I had chosen to reverse maybe I'd have spotted it). The reasons for missing it, like I said, are various and varied. That's not the point though. 

 Anyways, as I started drivng out in a hurry while monkey balancing a serious conversation on the mobile phone, the top of the car hit that low hanging box and made a dent. Not a substantial dent but being the first one, hurt more. I got off the car, got off the phone and stared at the damaged car in disbelief. "Why is it that I am the only reason, with no external interference, to damage my beautiful new car"? 

 "You cannot take the car out now sir. There are cars parked on both sides and in all slots behind. You cannot drive out straight. You are stuck unless one of these car owners leaves" What he said was true and obvious. I did not needed anyone to emphasize that for me. I was mildly irritated but then in that entire large parking lot, no one else came forward to empathize with me except this young and cheerful security guard.

"Chalo ab phas hi gaye. Kuch kar bhi nahin sakte. Aapka tho duty khatam hoke Ghar jaane ka time hogaya hoga. Ghar jaane ki jaldi mein the shayad aap". Young and wise.

"Haan. Woh tho hai". I looked around trying to come up with any random idea to extract my car from that impossible situation.

After some failed attempts, with the security guard doing his best to help me, I decided to give up and started to examine the extent of damage to the car.

"Kuch nahin sir. Thoda woh upar lag gaya. Waise zyada kuch nahin hua. Jo hona tha, woh tho hoga hi". The great thing about India is that there is a hidden philosopher in everyone. Karma is such a strong belief, that the security guard simply assigned the root cause of the incident to the destiny of the car.

With nothing else to do while I waited for one of the neighbouring cars to be taken out, I started chit chatting with the security guard. Turns out, he is from a farming family in Uttar Pradesh. Did his BCom in Hindi medium and being a very responsible child, decided to find some work so his father can pay off a 12 lakh loan.

"Why did he take that loan?" I asked out of general curiosity.

"My uncle wanted to sell his land off. So instead of letting someone else buy it, my father bought the land from his brother" he said in Hindi. And to buy that land his father took a 12 lakh loan.

"How big was the land?"

"Ek bigha zameen hai, sir. Aur mazein ki baat tho yeh hai ke mere chacha ne woh paise apni behen ko de di. Matlab meri bua. Matlab sabhi mere pitaji ke bhai, behen"

Life keeps throwing suprises at everyone I guess. I was still curious as to why the young man chose to become a security guard. Especially because he had a proper bachelors degree in commerce.

"Our side, Government job is very important. Everyone aspires for a Government job. Even if it is Army"

"Then why did you not try Army?"

"With this Agniveer scheme, Modiji took away that option. Why risk your life for a four year job? There is always a chance of dying on duty. Dying is ok, but family has to get the pension. No?"

The depth of the last sentence just blew me away. How casually he said about dying so the family can get sustenance in the form of a pension.

"But Modiji said Agniveers family will get one crore compensation etc if there is a death on duty"

"If you give one crore lumpsum and expect us to know how to do investment and business, is it not unfair? We are poor because we are not very smart money wise. Nothing beats a steady monthly sustenance no matter how small"

Another brilliant insight. I was a supporter of the Agniveer scheme until then. Suddenly things seemed different. Not to give up, I continued.

"Par itne saare paise milna bhi choti baat nahin hai", I tried some more.

"Agar koi aapki nayi gaadi ek din ke liye maang leta aur phir uska bura haal karke aap ke haatho mein paise de deta, tho aap khush honge?"

"Nahin. Lekin yeh sahi tulna nahin hai" I protested.

"Nau Jawan baccha naukri mein jaayega tho alag baat hai. Par aise Agniveer banega tho log bolenge ke marne ke liye chod diya taaki badi rakam miljaaye. Socho maa baap ko kaise lagega"

"Singapore aur doosre deshon mein aisa hota hai. Aur log khush bhi hain", I tried another line.

"Amir log honge sir. Army mein jaana unke liye accha hai aur discipline aajaayega. Aur unke baaju koi Pakistani aatankwaadi nahin honge tho marneke chance bhi kam hi hoga. Hamare yahan discipline nahin naukri chaahiye. Aur darr marne ka nahin hai. Par hamare marne ka koi matlab nahin banta jab parivar gareeb bhi ho aur dukhi bhi. Aur us avastha mein badi rakam ka kya karenge?"

I did not had anymore logical line of questioning to convince him. It was better that I get convinced because his logic was far more superior.

A cheerful looking man walked about and took away one car next to mine.

"Chalo sir. Abhi aapka car baahar nikal jaayega"

He helped me get out of the parking lot. I was thankful for the break, the conversation and the closure to that chat just when I lost my argument.

As I drove away, I stopped and asked the young man, "Thank you. Aap ka naam hi nahin poocha maine"

"Kuch nahin sir. Naam jaanke kya karoge. Aap nikal jao, waise bhi der ho gayi hai aap ke liye"

Agniveer fighting against prejudice.