Chauffer driven Auto Rickshaw

His day begins when most people still haven't finished with partying the previous night off. 3 am is when he starts, so as to reach the milk depot on time and grab as much milk as he can carry before others like him come and take it all. He delivers all the milk at people's doorsteps and sells some of it. Close to a rupee every liter is what he makes through all the deliveries, and that amounts to almost a thousand rupees every month. It's not too bad according to him as he spends only two hours for it every day. At around 5, he rushes to the housing colony near his slums and starts with washing cars. Fifteen cars are what he is allowed to wash as the rest is shared by others like him. Once all that is done, he goes to work. Driving an auto rickshaw is what he does....that’s his job he says proudly. The other chores are just to make ends meet. He plies between Maitrivanam and Madhapur, a 'share auto' as they're commonly called. But that is not what he does all day. Once the office hours (7 am to 11 am and 6 pm to 8 pm) are over, his isn't a share auto anymore, just an ordinary one. The office hours are the most lucrative he says as he can carry 5-6 people at once and it was during one of those hours that I met him for the first time.
It was just one of those days and one of those auto rides and one of those bad moods, not looking forward to college. I was sitting in front, to his left and clinging on for dear life as he was snaking his way through heavy traffic. We were about to reach the point where I was to get off and catch a bus when we were stopped quite abruptly - by the police. The share auto system wasn't allowed during that time (it still isn't but the police have stopped caring). All of us were made to get off and could go our own ways. The driver though, was called to the 'express court' set up there consisting of two policemen with challans meant for fines. The justice system was simple. Pay a huge sum of four hundred rupees or collect your vehicle from the police station a day later with an even heavier fine. The cops that day were some how in no mood to accept bribes for reasons best known to them so the driver just stood there not knowing what to do. I called him aside and gave him the money for his fine. I still don't know why I did that, probably because he was my age or....I guess its just one of those things I've done for which people call me a fool but that’s alright. He couldn't believe what I had just done and thought it was a joke but once the challan was duly signed and his vehicle released, he walked up to me and asked me where I wanted to go. He took me to college free of charge, despite my offer to pay the usual fare and gave me his number with a promise that he would reach me anytime I needed an auto no matter where I was.
Satish was the name of my new friend. Turned out that he was Marathi, his parents living in a small village somewhere in Maharashtra. He had been living in Hyderabad for 3 years and has been doing the same things I wrote about earlier, every day of the week except Sunday ....when he just delivers the milk and washes the cars. The rest of the day is spent either sleeping or watching movies. The opportunity cost in doing those things is very high but at 20, can anyone blame him?
Quite a major part of his earnings go into paying the rent for the auto he drives and also the hut he lives in. He sends some of it home and makes sure his kid sister is able to go to school. He told me his sister was the class topper and the brightest kid he’d ever seen. He told me all this on our 20 minute ride to my college on that very first day!
Life is funny, as the cliché goes. The money that I used to pay the fine had been saved up with some difficulty, as part of a plan I had with my friend to eat at this really expensive restaurant in town. College life makes it almost impossible to save and yet I was sure the call I had taken that day was not for nothing but, I was not sure why I did it either. I know for certain it had nothing to do with my conscience, my mind. What I am still sure of though, is that I had made a friend that day. A good one. He told me more about himself than I could have imagined there ever was. We developed respect for each other. Him - because he thought I had done the unimaginable and I - because I thought he was doing the unimaginable….. every day. Life is funny because everyone, no matter how unassuming they may appear, has a story to tell.
I've seen him just four times since. He offered to pay the money back in installments but I refused for reasons even I am not quite sure of. Our meetings after the first day include a couple of them owing to sheer coincidence - when I got into his auto on my way to college and another couple of times when I did have to call him as it was raining and there was no other way I could have reached home before midnight. He was there in a flash.... quite unbelievable because I still remember how badly the traffic was jammed on those days. He took the fare only after a great deal of persuasion from my side on all four occasions and I had to use lines like 'your sister needs to go to school' in order to get him to agree to take the money.
It's been almost 3 years since that first day when I helped him pay the fine and a couple of months since I've seen him last. He has not gone home to his parents in over a year. I know that he still wakes up around three in the morning and drives his auto till around eleven in the night as he can get higher fares. He still has his standards and doesn't work on a Sunday. He still has dreams of owning his auto or better still, drive a sedan. His sister still tops the class and he still, will reach me no matter where I am, whenever I need an auto.....