The death of Auto Kumar
There were four of them seriously mourning the accidental death of their dearest friend - Auto Kumar.
It was past mid night and they all chose to sit near the almost extinguished pyre.
Shabrati lighted bidis for them all and passed, Auto bhai never said no any passenger whether it was dead of night or December cold early mornings.
Rajkumar was affectionately called Auto bhai or Auto kumar by his friends, he was a respected figure because of this principle to never say no to a passenger. Though this notion had two facets - charge whatever you like from a passenger in distress & secondly, his inner fear that once he turned down a lady passenger at night and she came out to be a Delhi Police constable, he had to drop her for free all the way from ITO to Dwarka, to avoid confiscation of his Autorickshaw. While leaving the lady thundered at him with a pointed finger, "I have your auto number, now listen you swine! If ever in my life I got any complaint about turning down a customer from anywhere in Delhi, I'll confiscate your autorickshaw only, Understand! I don't know anything, I'll just get yours in. Get lost! Rajkumar meekly said,"Madam sorry!" and accelerated away.
It was a chilly December night, the pyre was a friendly warmth to keep them company.
"This being principle oriented took his life, my poor friend." reflected Campa.
Anna Selvam said while puffing the bidi, "I have told you so many times, not to light bidi for me brother, I had vowed to quit last Tuesday."
Rangu said, " Anna give me yours to, I'll smoke two in the name of Auto bhai. Auto bhai was my brother, he was my brother. MY BROTHERRRRR!. His voice fainted and he fell flat on his back, it was clear that he had drank the country wine tonight too. He tried to sit up again after a while but couldn't, "Wine can't make my sorrow less, he was my brother!." And again he fell flat.
Anna Said, "Last month he had gone through jaundice, his eyes are still yellow, you can't tell if these are the remains of the disease or the colour of spurious liquor he is addicted too."
Rangu was a sweeper in his late thirties, kept on wages by the industrial area association, most of the day either he was lying intoxicated under a tree or bench away from the work, he looked active for a few hours on the last few days of the month.
Campa was a vendor of soft drinks & other eatables, his stall was near SBI ATM booth, where he used to take a nap in sultry afternoons in the soothing cool air conditioner while Shabrati kept an eye on his stall. His name was unknown, once some NGO personnel came to collect data about the condition of street vendors, they were distributing warm clothes, when asked about his name, they heard,"Vijay Dinanath Chouhan", They didn't budge to ask more from him. That day Shabarati told this incident to all of his customers and made them laugh, unknowingly he etched a customer's ear, who slapped him and left swearing at him.
Shabrati, whose apparatus of barber shop comprised of a dirty mirror hanging on a tree in front of the ATM booth and a rickety wooden chair, which made a threatening sound of "Churrr." whenever a customer sat in, subsequently alerting the customer to keep his weight in proper balance while going though the operations under Shabarati's razor and scissors, else it may cause a serious accident.
Anna Selvam, a tall man from Tamil Nadu, kept a stall of South Indian food next to Shabrati's apparatus. He was the most disciplined, kept his stall daily from noon till late night till all the nearby offices were closed.
That fateful day Auto bhai was as usual playing cards in the afternoon with the three of them under a tree as Rangu was nowhere to be found, leaning on his auto rickshaw, when he got a call from a fellow auto rickshaw driver to pick and drop a daily passenger from Okhla industrial area to New friends Colony. This driver pleaded for help as he was unwell and couldn't drive and the passenger was a daily bound one, who wanted an auto at his disposal at the earliest. Auto bhai left to return only after post mortem and other formalities. A speeding lorry had blown the lives away from auto bhai and the hasty passenger. Only God could confirm if the mistake was really by lorry driver or the hastiness of that passenger took over the wits of Auto bhai, resulting lorry driver to be caught and proven again that entire clan of the lorry drivers drive while drunk.
"Who knew that fate was calling our brother, he looked so happy playing cards. This wretched mobile phone! I tell you! It's death angel.", Shabrati said. He hadn't bought a cell phone since he lost his first one, not because of the fear of losing again but to avoid his wife's calls, his work was his worship and playing cards was a session of meditation for them all.
The morning star was visible now and the pyre was completely cold. Rangu was still lying flat and the rest three were smoking and talking about Auto Kumar.
Anna said stunned, "he's cold."
Shabrati joked, " Anna! your hands are cold not he, he had drunk so much, he had full cup of life tonight, haven't you seen. Take this bidi Anna." And handed over the bidi.
Anna took reluctantly,"not again."
Campa was too drousy to intervene, he was taking naps while sitting and his head was jerking continuously.
By the time their bidis were over, the first ray of the sun fell making the thin blood stream from Rangu's nose visible, for a while they stepped back in shock. Rangu was cold.
"Pyre for another homeless tonight", reflected Campa.
It was the friendly warmth they were used to by now.
