There are so many little details that rush to the head and I can’t figure out where to begin. I start to feel like an eighth grader struggling with a character sketch of the protagonist of a Munshi Premchand story. My impression of Basanth is rather like one of those characters, simple with an uncanny depth about him. As I board his autorickshaw, he breaks the ice… in fluent English. He politely asks me my name as I look about the auto for his license details to spot his. The conversations over the course of the next twenty minutes went thus -
Me: Where did you learn English, did you go to college?
Basanth: People like you are my teachers, if I talk in English people respond back and I keep learning.
Me: [feeling a little silly about the college part, and remarked on the full moon, which hung low on the horizon]
Basanth: [Taking out his cell phone and trying to get a picture] Thank you for showing me the moon, it is indeed beautiful and I rarely look up at the sky.
Me: Yes, it does have a very dream like quality.
Basanth: [after a pause] …You know what my dream is? One to become a singer, I don’t sing well, but I’d like to try. Second is to become a scientist. What do you think would be the eligibility for becoming a scientist?
Me: A Scientist? …Ummm…well…maybe a BSc degree?
Basanth: I don’t think so. I think you need to be a little MAD about something, if you want it bad enough you can get it, I think.
Me: [feeling even more silly about the BSc bit and by now frankly at a little loss of words] What is the third dream?
Basanth: [without hesitation] To be a good human being.
Me: What would a good human being be like, Basanth, what do you mean by good?
Basanth: The first part is to not cheat oneself. Secondly, we live in a society and need to give back to it, a good human being is a good husband and a good father [pauses, followed by a sigh]… I don’t think I am a good father, I don’t think I spend as much time with my child as I would like to.
Me: How do you teach your child what is good from bad, Basanth? How would you make him a good human being?
Basanth: Life is made of choices, I cannot teach him this, he will have to make his own choices, I can only tell him what worked for me.
At this point, I arrived at my destination, and I paid him, he mentioned that I had overpaid him and returned the tip back.
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I had a similar experience with an auto driver who also spoke fluent English, and he wanted to learn a foreign language some day… May all their dreams come true..
May all autowalas become like Basanth. Bangalore will then probably have lesser private vehicles.