I know her. But I have not yet met her. To see and meet her I will have to travel all the way to Mumbai from the southern tip of Kerala. It is a tedious task.
I know her through her writings. Once in a fortnight, her column appears in a National Daily.
She has a wonderful style of writing. More than the style, I like her writing because she always writes for the down-trodden, those in the lower ladders of society, impoverishment, poverty, mal-nutrition, corruption spreading to almost all spheres in the society. I felt her writings, heartrending and often think about the 77 percent of Indians trying hard to keep both ends meet by spending below Rs.20 a day. Astonishingly and also surprisingly in the first-half of 21st century creating a defining moment in the history of India by launching Chandrayaan-I to the moon and MIP( Moon Impact Probe) kissing the moon thus making the space scientists jump with joy and hugging each other.
Now she travels across India, so I believe, by trains, buses, auto-rickshaws and even bullock-carts to even the remotest corners of our nation for searching and empathizing with the pathetic conditions of poor men, women and children and also the dangerous law and order situation, the communal clashes prevailing across India and lamenting over the innocents fate which they are forced to undergo for no fault of them.
Once I happened to read a real-life story by the writer concerning the wretched sanitary conditions in our cities and villages. In her column she wrote about her eye-witness accounts of people defecating in the open due to the lack of sanitary conditions across of nation even in the twentieth century. She made a startling disclosure in her column by disclosing that over 667 millions of Indians are getting on with their life without sanitary conditions in India often forcing them to relieve themselves in the open and also a tragic truth that ‘one out of every two persons in the World is compelled to defecate in the open is an Indian.
On going through her article, I was reminded of a short span I spent in labour camp, part of Dharavi, Asia’s largest slum. In the short span, I had to witness and even became a part of poor men in that area defecating in the open and also ugly toilets overflowing with excreta spreading even to the streets because the toilets often got blocked, with nobody to take care of and take remedial action. Horrible and nauseating sight and also experience!
Soon after reading the column, I thought about writing to her and lost no time in sending an e-mail appreciating her for finding time to write about an issue which needs immediate attention of the government. Also I wrote about the brief period of stay in the Labour camp area and my eye-witness accounts prevailing there.
On receiving my e-mail, within no time, she e-mailed me with her profound thanks and wrote about slight improvement in that area but nothing to boast about the promise of rulers transforming Mumbai into a global city and a ‘future Shanghai’ still remains a distant dream.
Later, once in a while I e-mailed her, rang her up, but though busy with her duty always without much rest often conversed me, never ignored her pleasant tone, on current topics particularly the plight of the hapless citizens of our nation.
I would try to introduce myself to her, after she took up the receiver. Happy to note here that she always recognized my voice and always in her affectionate voice, she never got angry at all and though a busy type answer to me and continue talking often inquiring about my reading and writing. Once I had happily informed her about the opening of my blog and after congratulating me she promised me to give me a feedback soon after going through the blog. Within no time, after going through the blog called me and offered her congratulations with some valuable suggestions.
My still favourite BusyBee (late Behram Contractor), you for years made us laugh and think through ‘Evening News’, ‘Mid-day’ and ‘Afternoon Despatch Courier’, through your ‘Round and About’ wherever you are now, could you write a ‘Round and About’ about this busy and generous lady appreciably in a lighter vein, thus inspiring her to go on with her writings of down-trodden, illiterate, poverty stricken millions across India with an empathetic smile.
A kind lady always worthy to be emulated in a heartless, souless world! The affection , quick response and her sensitivity, quite overwhelming to say the least! Hats off to her…
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