IITian vs Rickshaw Wala

A RIB TICKLING READ!!

IITian and Rickshaw wala- A brilliant piece of conversation 

I had gone to Benaras with a friend of mine. As we were planning to visit the famous Sankat- Mochan temple, we spotted 2 two rickshaw walas contending for our business. I agreed to go with a 20-odd year’s old chap, as I found him to be an interesting guy. And the decision was not regretful at all!He young chap demanded Rs.50 from us, we ageed to pay Rs.30, and ultimately it was settled on na-teri, na-meri Rs.40.

Here are the highpoints of the conversation that followed, while we were onboard his rickshaw:

Rickshaw wala: Sahib, kidhar se aaye hain? (Sir, which place are you from??)

Me:  Dilli. (Delhi)

Rickshaw wala: Dilli mein kya karte hain sahib, koi business? (Are you into some business in Delhi?)

Me: Nahi, naukri mein hain. (No, I am in service)

Rickshaw wala: Kaisi naukri? (What job?)

Me: Internet ki. (In Internet!)

Rickshaw wala: Humara bhi kuch kaam banwa deejiye. (Please get me into the same)

I cudn’t resist a smile here.

Rickshaw wala: Engineering ki padhayi karne ki koshish mein hoon sahib, kuch ho hi jayega. (I’m studying to be an engineer, it would fetch me some job then)

Me: Achcha? (Really?)

I became a little interested now.

Rickshaw wala: Jaante hain, humne Dilli ke Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University mein paper jama kiye hain. University achi hai na? (You know I have applied for engineering in GGSIPU in Delhi, isn’t it good?)

Me: Haan, achchi hai (Yes, it is good)

Rickshaw wala (In a matter of fact way) : Aur kal hi maine JEE bhi diya. (And yesterday I appeared for JEE also)

Me (astonished): JEE? Mane IIT waala? (U mean JEE for IIT?)

Rickshaw wala: Yes Sir, Joint Entrance Examination.

This he pronounced so aptly that I was stunned for a while.

Rickshaw wala: Kaafi mushkil tha exam. Waise bhi aasan hota toh log 2 saal mehnat kyun karte? (It was really tough. Had it been easy, why would people spend 2 years in preparing for it?)

He further asked: Aapne kya padha hai? (What have you studied)

Me: Engineering, phir MBA (Engineering, then MBA)

Now it was his turn to look amazed.

Rickshaw wala: Kahan se ki engineering? (Where did study engineering from)

Me: IIT Delhi.

He literally swung back, both shocked and surprised, then smiled delightfully.

Rickshaw wala: OK, toh aapke liye Rs 30. (OK, then 30rs for u)

My friend and I laughed on this.

Me: Naam kya hai tumhara? (What is your name)

Rickshaw wala: Ashok.

My friend: JEE ki padhayi kab karte the? (What time did u used to study for JEE?)

Ashok: Raat mein kaam khatam karke (After my job, at night)

Ashok to me: Kismein engineering kee aapne? (Which branch did you specialize in?)

Me: Chemical.

Ashok: Arre, tab aapki Chemistry par pakad badi achi hogi na? (Then u must be strong in chemistry.)

Me: Arre, aise kuch nahi hai. (No, nothing like that)

Ashok: Aise kaise? Acha yeh bataiye, jab Mendeleev ne Periodic Table banaya tha tab kitne elements they usmein? (That’s not possible, OK tell me, when Mendeleev designed the periodic table, how many elements did it contain?)

Me (taken aback): 70-80?

Ashok (confidently): 63. Ok chaliye ye bataiye, kaunse element ki electronegativity sabse adhik hai? (OK tell me, which element has the highest Electronegitivity?)

My friend was laughing out loud.

I didn’t want to try too hard.

Me: I don’t know.

Ashok (Assuredly): Flourine.

Ashok asked further: Kis element ki electron affinity sabse adhik hai? (Which element has highest electron affinity?)
Now even I couldn’t suppress my laughter

Me: Ye bhi nahi pata. ( I don’t know this also)

Ashok: Chlorine.

Ashok further asked doubtedly: Toh aapka kaunsa subject strong hai? (Then which subject are you strong at?)

Me: Physics.

Ashok: Achha, Newton’s second law of motion bataiye? (OK, then state Newton’s Second Law of Motion)

Me (feeing jubilant): F=ma.

Ashok: Sir, tell me statement. Physics is not about formulae, it is understanding concepts!

I was shocked, he reprimanded me in near perfect English. My friend continued to laugh his heart out.
Me: Newton’s second law, hmmm…. was…. err

Ashok (snapping me): Not was, it “is”. Wo abhi bhi hai. (It still exists)
Certainly, my physics was not impressing him either.

Me (sheepishly): Yaad nahin hai.

Ashok: Force on an object is directly proportional to the mass of the object and the acceleration of the object.

He again said in near perfect English.

Ashok: M. Tech ki hai aapne? (Have to done M. Tech?)

Me: No, MBA.

Ashok: MBA toh paise kamane ke liye hota hai. Kaun MBA wale kaam karte hain? (MBA is just for making money. Which MBAs work?)

Me: Aise thode hai. Paise sirf kaam karne se hi aata hai. ( It’s nothing li ethat. You earn only when you work.)

To this I saw him smiling to himself. We didn’t exchange words for a while. May be he was thinking about his service class who work their life off and don’t earn much, but we so called educated professionals make so much without putting any efforts.

Soon we arrived at our destination and got off. I tried giving him Rs.40, but he was a man of his word and thus accepted only 30 rupees. He smiled and began to turn away, when I suddenly stopped him and proposed clicking a selfie of all three of us.

He waived off the idea and left all of a sudden, making me feel like a complete loser. I was speechless, even my friend wasn’t laughing anymore. Damn, what a ride that was! India is changing, and changing fast.

Well, for a long time I was reflecting on what had happened, and the temple was the best place to be in that time! But like everything else, that moment also ended, and life just went on!