Migrant Go Back

The moment Bujhaavan pulled up the shutter of his shop, a strong whiff of rotten vegetables shattered the olfactory receptors in their noses. Bujhaavan’s wife; Lalita covered her nose with her dupatta but could not stop a strong bout of coughing. When she was through with a round of coughing, she just wailed in anguish, “Oh my God! Look at this! Our shop is devastated. Almost all the vegetables have rotten completely.”

Lalita started to wail uncontrollably. Bujhaavan was trying to console her. Their son and daughter were looking at them with a sense of bewilderment. Bujhaavan could muster up some courage to say, “Don’t worry. Have faith on me. I will once again bring our life back on rail.”

After opening his shop, Bujhaavan sat on the steps. He was sitting on his haunches; with his head resting on his palms. His wife was filling plastic crates with rotten vegetables; in order to clean the shop. Her son (who is about 12 years old) was helping her. Her five year old daughter was playing with an orange as if it was a ball. After looking at Bujhavans’s gesture and posture, anybody could easily tell that he was not enjoying the sunshine on a winter morning rather he was feeling highly dejected.

Bujhaavan was spotted by Rahul. Rahul was a regular customer for Bujhaavan. Rahul works as software developer in an MNC. He is quite friendly with most of the people and does not mind talking to people even from the lower strata of socio-economic ladder. Looking at Bujhaavan, Rahul said, “Hey, Bujhaavan! What happened? Your shop was not being opened since so many days. Is everything alright? Anybody is sick?”

Hearing that, Bujhaavan raised his hands over his head to offer a silent Namaste and said, “No Sahib, nobody was sick. I was just getting negligible customers on a daily basis so there was no other way out. It was better to keep the shop shut.”

Rahul sat beside Bujhaavan and said, “Don’t be a pessimist. I know that sales have suffered a bit. But it is a short term dip. Everything would improve in the long run. A bright future awaits all of us. Have people stopped buying vegetables?”

Bujhaavan gave a wry smile and said, “Yeah, you are right. Earlier, you used to buy at least one kg of cauliflower at one go. But now, you are not buying more than one-fourth of a kg. Earlier, you used to buy at least two litres of milk on a daily basis. Now, I have seen you carrying a half litre pack only. Sir, I have to think about paying my rents. Add the electricity bill to it. Keeping the shutter down would at least help in saving on electricity bill. Nobody has cash so everybody is cutting on spending. I had to stand in queue for four days. After that, I became successful in depositing my money in my account. Now, they are not allowing us to withdraw the money.  The bank on the other side of the road has not received cash after the nineteenth November. How do I buy fresh stock? I need at least twenty thousand but ATM is just giving two thousand.”

Rahul took out a cigarette and offered another to Bujhaavan. After lighting up their cigarettes, Rahul took a long puff of nicotine enriched smoke and said, “Don’t worry my friend. You must know about the great work being done by our government. It has changed everything in one stroke. Now, every transaction is going to be online; through internet. You can make all your transactions through your mobile phone. For the time being, you can use check or DD to pay your suppliers. Haven’t you heard what the Finance Minister had said a couple of days ago?”

Bujhaavan exhaled a sharp jet of smoke towards the ground and said, “Do you know my landlord? He appears to be highly educated. When he refuses to take payment through cheque, then what do you expect from farmers who come to sell in mandi. Even the wholesalers in the mandi are refusing cheques now-a-days. One of them was telling that he does not have time to stand in queue just to deposit cheques. Our Finance Minister was talking about DD. Is he going to pay for the commission on DD? Cannot he see the huge crowd in front of every bank? Which staff in a bank is free to make a demand draft?”  

Bujhaavan was unable to dampen the optimistic spirit in Rahul. Rahul said, “You already own a smartphone; if I am not wrong. I have seen you forwarding messages. Making a payment is as easy as forwarding an MMS.”

Bujhaavan said, “I know that if I make a typo error while using WhatsApp then it is not going to make a difference. But if I will repeat the same mistake in my bank account then I will lose my hard-earned money. What happens when someone steals my password? Sahib, we are much smaller in size. We are not in a position to withstand such shocks. To add insult to my injury, the landlord has created a new problem for me.”

Rahul asked, “What happened?”

Bujhaavan said, “I had been to meet my landlord. When I told him that I am not in a position to pay my rents for the next couple of months, he handed an eviction notice to me. My shop has a good client base but he is hell bent to destroy my business. It takes years to establish a business at a new place.”

Rahul said, “Why don’t you set up your shop on the sidewalk. You can shift later to a new shop after finding a suitable place.”

Bujhaavan said, “It is more difficult to do business on the sidewalk. One needs to bribe the police. The local muscleman also takes his share. There is additional risk of theft. I was able to protect my dignity by keeping a shop in this shopping complex. I have enquired in nearby shopping complexes, but there is no vacancy. A shop is vacant near another apartment but they are asking for a hefty advance.”

Rahul said, “Your shop must be quite old; at least five or six years old. I think it is as old as this apartment. You must have saved enough money by now. You can easily pay the advance.”

Bujhaavan said, “I also overestimate people who live in high rise apartments. But you are underestimating my expenses. I need to pay eight thousand as rent for this shop and at least two thousand as electricity bill. The beat constable takes one thousand and the municipality staff takes five hundred. I need to pay at least five thousand in a year as donations for pooja and bhandara. A stray food inspector may rob me off a couple of thousands in a year. I pay two thousand as house rent and pay one thousand five hundred as school fees. Now, you can easily calculate that I hardly earn enough to make a saving. Nevertheless, I have saved about one lakh fifty thousand during this period. I was planning to buy a small plot. But even a fifty yard plot is costing around seven lakh in this area.”

Rahul said, “Don’t worry, everything would be alright. The moment we shift to cashless economy, no food inspector is going to disturb you.”

Bujhaavan laughed and said, “Don’t underestimate an illiterate person who is in business for so many years. When everything will happen through account then I will get another set of greedy officials to satiate. The guys from sales tax and income tax would be my new tormentors. My hands were already full with constable and muscleman. You mean to say that I need to increase my business related expenses. I need to pay taxes as well as hefty fees to the chartered accountant. Wonderful.”

Rahul asked, “What have you thought of future?”

Bujhaavan said, “I don’t plan for future. Let us leave it to the almighty. But the present is looking scary. All the vegetables have rotten; setting me back with huge loss. I am not left with enough strength to stand on my feet. Add the ultimatum of my landlord to this. I am packing my bag and baggage; to go back to my village. I will once again work in the farms; the way I did it when I was much younger. Farm work comes for only four months in a given year. But I will have the solace to be with my own people. It is better to die peacefully in my own village than facing the endless agony in this big city. I migrated to this city in search of better opportunity. I had dreamt of a better life for my children. Now, I can only look at a blank screen ahead of me.”