He rolls chapattis…

He is small but smart; he is feeble but fast. He has an innocent smile that anyone can fall for. The glint in his eyes can put diamonds to shame. He has energy of any renowned sprinter. He is anyone from the highway dhabas to college canteens. He is just under 10.

He is always there to complete your imperious orders. Be it filling glasses with water or replenishing your thalis with tadkas. More often than not he rolls chapattis and his perspiration laughs at his country’s aspiration for being in the race of becoming a superpower in coming years.

His tender hands and feet feel unbearable fatigue at the end of the day. But he has nowhere to complain. He doesn’t have ACs despite that he doesn’t complain of tacky air; he doesn’t have duvets, despite that he doesn’t complain of stiff plank. We have everything and we keep on complaining. Isn’t his tolerance level a lesson for us who want everything at every cost—even if the cost be misery of others?

He doesn’t go to school but he learns more than any school going children of his age does. He knows how educated persons forget etiquettes, when they have to call him. He learns anger is the worst enemy of a human being, when he is thrashed by customers for a minute mistake.

He is present for everybody, but others are hardly present for his life. He is soul recourse for his family; he is carrying a hell lot of burden. With passing of everyday he becomes weaker, but he has to keep on rolling chapattis, taking orders, and filling glasses.

People move on with their lives but he remains stagnant. His limbs have got frail, because he was overworked to make your body strong. His eyes burn, because he had to bear the brunt of fuel that doused your hunger. He is breathless, because he ran helter-skelter when you ordered a glass of water.

He is sinking and one day will be devoured by his draconian destiny. One day people will reach apogee in their lives and he will still be slithering in the bottom of indifference and underbelly of an undesired life. I wonder when this dichotomy of destiny will end!