Kachroo - The Rag Picker

This is an attempt to write a small story on blog. For the title of the blog, my tributes to the director of "Daag-The fire"; the movie which started this rather stupid trend in Bollywood. Like all such titles, this one is also not a crowd puller. But, now that you are pulled, go through it:

--
Kachroo

I, I am ashmed at times when I say I. I don't have a name. I don't have a father. My friends started calling me Kachroo when i started working at the age of 8. My mother also calls me Kachroo now. She says she used to call me Aye and Oye before. Brutally, my name reflects what I do. I am a rag picker. I work and live at a railway station in India.

You should know that i am smart. I am the only rag picker who knows why our most sought after train, which we call Rani, is actually named "Rajdhani". No one told me; i just got the logic that it must come from Dilli and then I confirmed it with Saheb. He also told me that it connects the state capitals to our national capital, New Delhi.

'Yeh hai youngistaan meri jaan', i like this song on TV. I run towards Saheb's office when i hear these lines. Saheb is the most educated man on out platform. He likes to watch TV at loud noise. But, the black coat beast turns it down when he sees me jumping up his window. I do this exercise to catch a glimpse of my favorite thanda song on TV. I also like TV a lot. "Funny it is", my mother grins. She says i should not dream.

Actually, I don't like the thanda name. "Youngistaan", my smart brain doesn't accept this name. I think it doesn't go with the bottle. It should be something like "Ganga" or "Yamuna". Then they can say 'Yeh hai Ganga meri maa' .. he he .. I know I have a good sense of humor. "Funny it is", my mother thinks. She says i should not use my big cauliflower brains.

I said the name Youngistaan doesn't suit the bottle. It's not a strong argument. The argument should actually be for what's inside the bottle. I will give a strong argument one day, when i will taste it. Then i can surely tell you whether they should change the name or not. It's my dream to taste it.

(taken from http://www.kamat.com/kalranga/people/rag_pickers/)

Enough about my smartness. Let me tell you how i work.

You should first know that i like discipline in life. We have a big watch on our platform. Saheb taught me how to see time. To be honest, he taught me how to see a seven. He said when the small hand points to the toilet gate and the big hand points to God, its seven. As i told you, i like discipline in life, so, that's when i start and stop my work. 7am to 7 pm. Oh! the work..

..so in total, i collect around 50 bottles a day; around 20 of them from the toilet gate. Wonder how? .. it's pretty easy. Have you ever enjoyed drinks inside the toilet? No, right? Passengers finish and throw the bottles before going in and that's my 50 paisa!! My foolish friends still don't know this trick. My god, how smart am i? .. definitely more than a cauliflower. I hate my mother.

My favorite rag is the Youngistaan bottle. Out of the 50 bottles i collect, 3-4 are those, sadly all empty. I don't sell them. I hide them in the tank of the toilet. I have hundreds of them stored in all the tanks of the station. I earn just above 20 Rs a day and my mother takes away everything. I am trying to save from the last few weeks but I've got nothing. How can i taste it without the money then?

There are a few lucky friends of mine who got a chance to taste it without money. I hate all of them. All of them got it from rani .. the beautiful and fast, rani ..

.. to be continued