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From ZeiTGeiST
ASIA: February
2011 Edition |
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Khandu The Driver - A
Common Man’s Pespective On Current Issues |
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 Since
Mahabharta, the saarathi has been as
important
as the warrior himself. Today's driver
is the successor
of our age-old saarathi |
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“Did you get
the project?”
“Yes, of course. And we also signed the
contract today.”
 I
replied to Khandu, rather
enthusiastically. I had desperately wanted
this project and I had been trying for it
for almost a year. Not because it was a
very high value project but because it was
a project I really wanted to do. This was
because I had fallen in love with the site
and the aesthetic challenge that it posed.
The client's father had purchased a very
scenic hill-top some seventy years ago and
he was planning to construct a mansion
there with fourteen bed rooms, just as a
kind of a retreat for himself and his
family members and friends. The hill-top
overlooked a deep gorge on one side and
the client had also obtained permission
from the local authorities for
constructing a small dam which could
impound the run-off of water from the
neighbouring hills enough to create a
medium sized lake which would enhance the
aesthetics of his proposed mansion. I
I had visited the site at least eight
times during the year and given him
alternative concepts which I normally do
not do without being formally engaged. But
the client had been dilly-dallying all the
time and was not able to make up his mind.
In fact, that morning I had come to him,
determined that this was going to be my
last visit, one way or the other. I had
also told Khandu in the morning about my
intention and he had reassured me that I
was going to get the project that day. Had
he? I suddenly woke up from my reverie
with a jerk when I noticed Khandu offering
me a box of laddoos.
“When did you buy them?
“I had brought them with me since the
morning itself”
“But did you know that I was going to sign
the contract today”
“I knew it sir, and I had also told you
so.”
“You had told me alright but I thought it
was only your wishful thinking. Tell me,
Khandu, how were you so sure?”
“That is a long story, sir, and I know you
will not believe it. So, there is no point
in telling you.”
“Why don't you try?” I prompted him though
I knew he would not tell me because he had
snapped his mouth shut and was
concentrating on the road ahead. But I was
wrong. When I requested him the second
time, he recognized the earnestness in my
voice and opened up. He had driven me to
the site every time, he said, and he
reminded me of a small temple at the foot
of that hill top. He told me that the
priest at that temple was a class-fellow
of his to whom he had mentioned this
project and my keenness to take up this
work.
“You know, sir, that the client is a Bania
and has been visiting that temple all
these years. He has great faith in the
pujari ( priest) and it was, therefore,
not difficult to manage.”
I was a little upset. Was Khandu trying to
tell me that I had got the project, not on
the strength of my designs but on the
intervention of the pujari of that temple?
I told Khandu that he should not have
asked the pujari to intervene on my behalf
without my permission.
“No sir, the pujari did not intervene. He
merely told your client that he was
destined to benefit hugely from someone
whose name began with G. That's all. The
rest is all in the stars.
That much intervention I was prepared to
accept. I was also overwhelmed with
Khandu's loyalty and commitment. Rather
fondly, I asked him why he had done that.
“Sir, since Mahabharata, the saarathi has
been as important as the warrior himself.
Today's driver is the successor of our
age-old saarathi. It is a different matter
that you people do not give him as much
importance these days”.
Khandu was always class-conscious and, in
such situations, he always referred to me
as “you people”. But I guess he was right.
And on that day of my life, I would have
even conceded he was incarnation of Lord
Krishna Himself.
Gaurav Lakhanpal is an architect
specializing in theme architecture and can
be contacted on sglakhanpal@gmail.com · |
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