Auto Kuttan

We were in search of an auto-wallah to take my little one and her grandmother to and fro the school. I would feel bad each time mother said she would wait for 10-15 mins for the auto and how sun-beaten the little one and mother got...added to it is the tsunami-level of energy the little one has esp when she steps outside home.

One afternoon, I had to go to the hospital to collect a few reports. It was around 04:00 PM and I had not even a thin hope to find the three-wheeled machine! After a long walk to the junction, I got into an auto and requested him to take me to the hospital. On reaching the place, I asked if he is OK to wait for just 5 mins as it was a matter of collecting the reports and he agreed, which was a big surprise! And while returning he took me through roads I had not seen before and when I asked him to get me soon home, he said, "Didi, just like you I am also in a big hurry to get you back because there are a few kids waiting to get back home after tuition and I need to get there before they leave the class!" I was impressed by his concern and eagerness regarding the student-travellers of his. And as I got down, asked him if he belongs to the auto stand at the junction and will he be available if needed for a quick run to the hospital etc to which he said, "Didi, I live just two blocks away and also take most of the people from this area for their needs. Pls take my number and I shall definitely come to help you". Can you imagine my relief on hearing such helping words from an auto-wallah, who we all have categorised as - RUDE. I asked his name and he replied - Kuttan. I saved his number in my mobile as Auto Kuttan.

Kuttan is around 25yrs old, married with two kids. He is only Class 7th educated but well-mannered, sincere to his work, committed to the word he gives but is a chatter-box. An excellent source to get local happenings. One morning, while returning from the little one's school, he pointed to a young boy on a motorbike and said, "Didi, he was a goonda sometime back. Fell in love with a rich man's daughter and eloped with her to get married. The girl was not aware of his past but now he is reformed and is running own workshop! So, in case you need any kind of 'muscle-help', just let me know. He has lots of gratitude towards me, as I had once saved his life from a group of rival goonds at the Apollo Colony. Since then, he has high regard. Also, Didi, these days boys of class 9th and 10th are walking around with swords and knives inside their shirts...Do you have any idea whats happening around you? But, Didi, I am not such a type,,,I have a family to take care off but I keep good relations with such powers....Also Didi, once people like you get into Technopark in the mornings, you are unaware of the reality life we lead outside your world!" I repeated in my head what Kuttan said about our lives...how true, Kutta...we don't really know how do people like you live for a living, as we are busy serving clients sitting miles and miles away....entangled with annual appraisals, goal setting, rewards, fouling and stumbling while playing office politics...so much engrossed in our Techi-world (as my dad calls it), we hardly realise what happens in our neighbourhood....Keep giving me the news bits about my neighbourhood.

And thanks, Kutta....as of now, I don't see any urgent need to seek any 'muscle-help'. And if anyone of you need any of it, let me know...it is after all appraisal season going on.... :-)))

By the way, Kuttan is also the local gourmet and he is specialised in making yam pickle, fish pickle, chicken etc...gives his wife holiday from kitchen on Sundays :-) .. there are these interesting tit-bits about Kuttan, which is interesting from a human perspective....sometime later I shall pen how scared my mother got when Kuttan took our car out, how she scared him with her back seat driving which made Kuttan ask me to put a curtain between the front and rear seat, if he is to drive my mother around......on the other hand, mother made me promise I will never ask Kuttan to take the car out, as she got scared the way he changed gear and raced on the road....which we can categorize as generation gap :-))