For
the last three years, the rain gods had failed the villagers of Kishtipur, who
solely relied on rains for their livelihood, farming. Many of them, including
Raghav, went to the nearby city in search of job so that they could sustain
themselves and their families, who remained in the village.
Raghav
reached the city and visited the workshop where Ravi, his neighbor from
Kishtipur, had taken up job as a fitter. Ravi greeted Raghav and told him that
he had spoken to Viren, the person in-charge of the workshop, about Raghav, and
that, Viren had asked Raghav to join work from the following day. Then, Ravi
took Raghav to the shack, where he used to live.
In
the morning, Raghav woke up very early, eager to go to the new workplace and
join work. When he reached the workshop with Ravi, he was greeted by a stern
looking middle-aged man, whom Ravi introduced to Raghav as Viren, the work-shop
In-charge. Viren gazed intently at Raghav, trying to figure out his efficiency
to work in the work-shop and broke the tense silence by asking Raghav, ‘you
will have to help me in blacksmith section with the bellows. Hope you will do
the job well? Follow me, I will show you the section.’ Raghav felt a little
uneasy by the way Viren had tried to gauge him and lead him to the section. He tried to diffuse his uneasy feeling by
mindfully learning the job he had to do.
As
the days went by, Raghav tried his level best to efficiently work on the
bellows in the blacksmith section, but Viren always used to find fault in his
work and yell his dissatisfaction at him. Raghav tried all ways and means to
improve on his work, but Viren seemed to derive some sadistic pleasure by being
an abusive boss to Raghav. Raghav also observed that Viren was abusive to him
after his interaction with the owner of the workshop. Raghav’s colleagues,
including Ravi, used to tactfully make up with Viren, after any such abusive
altercations with him; but Raghav could not overcome his fear to approach Viren
in order to address the complain, instead, Raghav would passively allow Viren
to abuse him, especially after, Viren himself would have been abused by the workshop
owner. Raghav’s helplessness in resolving his problem with Viren always made
him angry with himself. The fear of
losing the job prevented him to do so.
One
evening, while Ravi and Raghav were returning to their shack from work, a sick
and wretched mongrel followed them home and Ravi offered a portion of his food
to him. The following morning, when Ravi and Raghav were leaving their house
for work, they found the mongrel had taken shelter under the steps leading to
the entrance of the shack. They shared their breakfast with him and left for
their work. In the evening, when they returned home from work, they were
greeted by the mongrel, anxiously waiting for them in front of the shack. The
two friends easily accepted the mongrel as part of their household by sharing
their food with him and allowing him to sleep under the steps.
With
the passage of time, Viren’s atrocities on Raghav, on the grounds of his being
an inefficient worker continued to increase and often, when Raghav used to
return home as a victim of Viren’s abusive behaviour at work, and his inability
to reason out with Viren the cause of his abuse. Raghav then used to give vent
to his anger and frustration on the poor mongrel, by beating him up. The poor
creature would cry out in pain and seek refuge under the steps and come out
only when he was called for food.
After
one such bad day at the workshop, When Viren had abused Raghav after the
workshop owner’s visit to the workshop and Raghav’s attempt to overcome fear
and reason with Viren the cause of his discontent had made Viren all the more abusive
and warn Raghav of dire consequences on the grounds of insubordination, Raghav
returned to the shack, the mongrel approached him timidly wagging his tail. The
sight of the mongrel was like the last straw that broke the camel’s back and it
made Raghav’s pent up rage flare up, so
he picked up the stick lying in front of the house and beat up the poor mongrel.
After giving vent to his anger by beating up the poor creature and drained of
energy by a hard and long day at work, Raghav sat down on the steps of the
shack, held his head in his hands and let tears of frustration and remorse well
out. Seeing him sit silently on the steps, the mongrel quietly and gently
approached Raghav and quietly crouched in front of him. Raghav, wiped away his
tears and looked at the mongrel meekly sit in front of him, looking helplessly
at him. Raghav’s gaze met with that of the mongrel and he found it reflect his
fear, agony and helplessness. The mongrel broke the gaze by timidly approaching
Raghav and gently licking the back of Raghav’s hands. Raghav felt a sudden rush
of emotion, which invariably made him place his hand on the mongrel’s head and
gently stroke him. While caressing the mongrel’s head and narrated the day’s
events to the creature in front of him, who seemed listen intently to Raghav, who
otherwise used to abuse him. Raghav too seemed to relax and could feel his
anger and resentment give way to a warm and loving feeling towards the poor
creature. Raghav realized, he never felt
so, when he used to pour out his anger and resentment by beating up the poor and
helpless creature.
