sabir pakda gaya.....

sabir!!!!...sabir kaun???.....hmmmm

Well he is the 20-21-22.(do i care???...maybe i do) year old.... who used to sell me CDs at Lal Darwaza....well i presume gujarat is the hub of all pirated CDs originating in India....and sabir was one of the foot soldiers....i guess he was the first acquaintance/friend i made in ahmedabad...well his location was just perfect...near hotel paramount...where i get my weekly share of food( read..non veg) and he used to be just next to it....

it started around 2 years ago....i was one of his regular customers...and we had our share of discussions...if i may call them so....one being when i pestered him about why he was into this illegal business...and he pointed to the row of beggars outside mosque nearby and asked...wahan baith jaaon kya????...and another when he wanted a bank account with an ATM card....despite my numerous encouragements he could never garner the courage to go to the SBI branch barely 20 steps from his laari....

well yesterday after killing the CAT...or rather being killed...(yeah again!!!!)...went for my food...and cudn't find sabir after that....was surprised but decided to come back in the evening....again..no sabir....went to the laari which i presumed was his....and found a boy ..no more than 12 rattling the names of the latest block-busts(..or blockbusters..were they???)...i asked him...sabir ki laari yahi hai kya???....he replied...nahi saab sabir bhai to pakda gaya...uski laari thane mein hai???. ...pakda gaya???..."haan" he said....and there it ended....don't know if i'd ever see him there again...but the words stuck on....Sabir bhai pakda gaya....

but...woh bhaag kisse raha tha jo pakda gaya???...from hunger....from dependence...from suffering of his family....or maybe.a bigger crime....none...maybe all....but am sure police would have a different name for the being chasing him.....but the bigger question that struck me was...how is it that all the Cd sellers i have seen are muslims????....i couldn't help but draw parallels between the crack trade in the states and the particular community involved in that ( yeah!!! a hangover from freakonomics)....maybe i'm right...maybe not...but the fact is all the illegal work i see in this city be it selling pirated books..Cds or bootlegging its by and large one community which is involved .....this certainly couldn't be a coincidence....and the fact is the youth involved in it were convinced that this was much better than sitting in the row of beggars outside the mosque...can we fault them???...i couldn't...

well a few of my thoughts were vindicated by the report of a committee ( set up by the Govt) recently....the problem they found was lack of education primarily...and at a higher level lack of oppurtunity....but so much discrimination couldn't have been just an ordinary occurence...was this backwardness of a community planned???...i guess the case could be argued from both sides..but i refuse to believe that the problem was hidden for so long.....then what has brought the problem to light now....

well if you ask me...it is the fear of losing what we have gained in the very recent past and looking at shining india we have gained quite a lot....so the basic fear of "haves" from "have nots"..has raised its head and people have understood that the community left behind also needs to be brought to a level where it doesn't get so desperate that it attacks the " haves" to get its share...in other words make them have something..albeit a small something.... but one that makes them feel like haves and let them have something that they may fear losing....hmmmm....

Another question that sprang-up that time was..."Does the present state of muslims in India after 60 years of independence justify the creation of Pakistan?????"...well honestly i couldn't find an argument against it.....

hmmm...stupid crap....the point is sabir pakda gaya...and a 12-13 year old...sameer...or shahid was it????( who cares anyways) has taken a step out of the row of beggars outside the mosque and set up his laari which may land him a stint in the jail before he is out of teens.....

is someone doing something???....and the worst most humiliating part is that i can't do anything...coz one i don't have the courage, stamina or dedication to do something...and secondly...i can't really bring my self to say "i care"...but the silver lining behind the cloud is that someone has started thinking and the recent report is a step in that direction....rest assured i would be following developments on that front very closely....

and one more of our discussions i remember....i don't know if it makes sense here.....i remember watching a few beauty pageants and a oft repeated question is " What would you want to be reborn as??"...i have seen most of those dumb girls saying no-one in particular....and over years i have reflected over the same question and have predominantly received one of the following two answers..." as myself again" or "noone in particular, but with the same mind"....implying that most people i knew were to quite some extent impressed by themselves and were quite happy with their situations.....well sabir answered it a bit differently..." i 'd like to be born as anyone but me".....hmmmm...i guess someone needs to make the sabirs of this world love themselves....or ensure conditions where they begin to love their lives, their circumstances and wish to be born as themselves again..... anyone listening????