About life experiences of people I met Part-2

I met Mr.D _________, who is working in a company which is visited.

          He ran away from home, when he was a child if about 10 years old due to poverty at home.

He was found by an old man in a street in a town at which he landed. The man offered him tea and bun and later took him to his home. He told the old man that he was an orphan. The old man, he took him under his wing. He was a trader in straw      (fodder to cattle). The boy grew up to become a good helper, later a vehicle cleaner, then he got a driving license and became a heavy vehicle driver and went round the whole of south India. Got reunited with his parents. Got a job in a public sector undertaking. Is married and has children.

          One incident he described was particularly disturbing, the lady who was the wife of the old man (merchant) never fed him well and he went hungry to sleep on many days. Later, the other drivers took pity upon him and created a credit arrangement for feeding with a nearby restaurant. He can eat; they will pay when they come back from duty.

          At the verandah floor, everyday she would just put something to eat in a plate and kick the plate with her foot to the boy. She would then go away into the house. The boy would eat whatever she had served. Then he could not ask for more. as she would disappear into the hinter most part of the house.

          There was another boy also, as a helper, who used to steal and eat. Mr. D_______ never did that. He was honest.

          My eyes were moist, when I heard this story. What terrible experience! This should never befall any child.

About life experiences of people I met part I

I met “Mr. I” a driver ( by profession ) who spent some time in a county abroad.

He recounted a tough real life experience he had in 1999-2000.

His job was to ferry workers in a van from the labour lamp to the cement factory construction project site at a placed called “ Ya……”

One day, just before he was about return to India, he was Ferrying people in a large van (like our MARUTI OMNI”. The tyres 2 numbers exploded and the van turned turtle twice or thrice.

                All were injured and admitted to hospital. After first aid, the driver was arrested for the accident and lodged in the traffic jail as an accused  . The country follows an archaic, tribal, “eye for eye” type of rules, ten people in the vehicle recovered fast and signed a “no obligation” for the driver who was in jail for the accident.

                The eleventh person lost consciousness, had a surgery done, lost his ability to speak and was still in hospital to he could not sign the NOC.

                The driver was subsequently shifted after one week from the traffic jail to the main prison. His personal things were taken off from him. His hair tonsured and he was given a shirt and a shorts. He spent 6 months in the main prison as there was no N.O.C. Nobody was there to take him out. No bail was there. No enquiry. No forensic study.

                Later, the injured person, who was an Indian, was brought back to India, he was a bachelor and his mother on humanitarian grounds, signed the N.O.C. This N.O.C was produced at the prison and the driver got released.

                What a horrible experience! He was lucky that the mother signed. Otherwise still he would have been in jail for no fault of his. [for years and years]