The Time Keeper

But the distressing part was not the pay-200 monetary units every month-, not me and the lads (whom I have been with for a full 15 years) going apart, but the job itself. We had to operate what was called a ‘Time Board’- a large black board plastered with cheap ad posters and at a corner, containing four slots for showing the time – two for the hour of the day and two for the minutes. My job was to sit behind the board in a room hidden from public view and at the end of every five minutes, update the time. I was in charge of many boards, with small hooks on top, to hang them behind the time board.

Just imagine – for eight long hours, every five minutes, I have to keep changing the timing boards relentlessly (Oh! How I wish I would never be born a pendulum if ever there were things like next birth). The only luxury I was accorded was that lunch and snacks were served at my place and the guard would take charge supposing I had to use the loo. Occasionally if I sat on the potty for a tad longer the guard-a huge man of Asian origin-would holler…

‘Arrey! If I keep changing the time forever, who would look at the trains? If you married soon, you wouldn’t spend so much time in the loo’

and I would yell back, my voice echoing back from the confines of the bulb-less bathroom…

‘I don’t know what you mean by that, but please let a man shit in peace at least.’

and add…

‘Don’t forget! The next five minutes are almost up. Change the numbers,’

as an afterthought.

And he always stood by me. By the time boards rather. Very nice guard indeed he was.

I managed to bore a hole through the time board without BD noticing it. I would peek through it all day long catching glimpses of fair women in their pretty frocks. (I have been lucky not to let BD see me doing all this) This keeps me occupied for most of the day, but trust me...it still is a boring job indeed.

Track maintenance takes place on Sunday afternoons due to which no trains ply through the station on Sundays noons. This gives me the much needed breather and I sit at home and write to the lads. I read and re-read all the letters that they have so regularly sent me and respond accordingly. The lads keep me engaged and it was mainly due to them that I haven’t much felt the absence of my parents.

P S : If you are still wondering what this is, it is an excerpt of the latest story I'm writing. I might or might not post the story in this site, but if you wish to receive the same throught e-mail, please mail me.

Suresh Kumar and his Study Circle!

With the double distress of not having a regular job years after graduation and the possibility of a bleak future staring at their faces, many a youth is lost wanting an answer to such a situation. It is to such youngsters that Suresh Kumar acts as a guiding light!

Tall, with a thick beard, a thoughtful countenance, and simple talk –These characterize Suresh who works as an assistant director in the Employment Exchange in the district of Tiruchy.

‘The way to your bright future from the dark present that you are surrounded by now, is right in front of you. Come with me and I shall lead you to your future,’ speaking thus, Suresh manages to infuse the much needed confidence in the minds of the youth. But unlike most others, he converts his speech to action.

To help precisely such kind of people, he has started an organization called “Study Circle” and it has been approved by the government of Tamil Nadu itself. This forum is now successfully functioning throughout the district. Even during Sundays local businessmen come and lecture the youth about their own success stories and how one can realize one’s dreams. Inspired by such tales, some come forward with ideas for starting a business and Suresh takes it upon himself to arrange for bank loans for such people.

Suresh has even managed to turn the system upside down at the Employment Exchange where he works. Gone are the days when the exchange was used only to register oneself in its database and then make the occasional visit to renew the registration. Suresh has converted it into a place where youth come and discuss various career options and also get their numerous queries on various exams clarified. Till date, about ten students from the forum have made it into the Indian Administrative Services and more than thousands have got government jobs. In fact the Jechinda, this year’s IAS topper, is also a student of the Study Circle.

Suresh Kumar was born in a non-descript village called Kadampatti, in the district of Madurai. As soon as he graduated from a college in Madurai, he got a job and worked in that company for 19 long years. Resigning from that job, he wrote the Group I examinations and got a job in the Employment Exchange itself.

‘That was the tuning point in my life. I saw hundreds of youth walking around having lost all hope in life. I targeted this group precisely when I started Study Circle. The number of people taking up various examinations after joining the forum touched 600 in the initial stages. Then I shifted the classes to Virudhunagar and met with equal success.

One boy called Ramesh. Both his legs were paralysed. Perchance he heard about me somewhere and came to me. “Sir! Please get me some job. Any job! I will do well” Hearing that pleading voice I did not what to do. I was stunned at the self confidence that boy had. We got him a job and now he sells newspapers and adverts in front of our office itself,’ narrates Suresh enthusiastically.

P S : This has been translated from a Tamil magazine and is second in a many part series

The Village Fool

"The small village of Chotagar only recently started seeing some ‘development’ which the whole country was talking about. Till even a few months back, this place was just another quaint little village in the huge cluster of such villages in northern India. Dusty and infested with stray dogs and the bovine species, Chotagar was not exactly a nice place to live in. Things however changed when Rai, the village fool – no one knew his first name –sighted some material in large amounts in the periphery of the village. There were still places in this small, muggy town that its residents had not seen, and Rai, with no work to do the whole day except loiter around dangling his long matted hair from left to right like a black pendulum, always kept venturing into those areas. This time though the usually useless sojourn proved to be a blessing. Rai returned huffing and puffing like a steam engine, and spoke rapidly in his incomprehensible style to the village headman-Rakha.

For the womenfolk, Rai represented all that was not good for their children-sloth, an acid tongue, not to mention the crooked teeth. They had even somehow found out that he had been ‘born to the Satan himself.’ Despite all such unfavorable conceptions, they ordered him constantly to fetch water from the river. Whether it was because of his dependence on them for his daily food or whether it was because of his simple nature that he ignored all malice aimed at him that he obeyed whatever they said, was anyone’s guess. "


These are the opening lines of the latest story that iam working on. Hope the story turns out to be a good one.