The street sweet Hawker

It was raining when I saw him standing at my door step. He was standing under the shelter to protect himself and his tin container which was at the back of his bicycle's carrier. Our outer front room has a door, which open to a small narrow street which connects to main road. Opposite to that door there is a small snacks shop. On that day it was raining heavily and after watching towards the black and gray sky anyone could have easily said that its going to rain for hours. But he was standing there with a hope that, soon it will stop raining.

He was a fair person with wrinkles on his face and white beard and mustache curled upwards at it both ends. His white hair were drenched by the rain water along with his cloths. He was wearing a white 'curta' which is a more likely a half sleeves shirt without collar and 'dhoti' which is a local dress made up of cotton sheet which needs to be wrapped around ones legs up to the waist in a particular pattern. His cloths were giving him a look of a tidy person which he was as by his caste he was a 'pandit' which is a high and respectable caste in India and hence everyone used to call him as 'Pandit ji'. His hands were all wet through his effort of saving his tin container. And because of the high wind and coldness in the weather his hands were shivering. One can see few wrinkles on his hand which were up to his fingers. He was wearing a pair of black leather slippers which were wallowed in mud and were not in very good condition. He was some what 6 feet tall with a healthy body which usually people struggle to maintain after reaching at that age. Anyone could guess after seeing him that he might be in his 70's.

Every moment I saw him protecting his container and watching towards the sky with a anxiety on his face for rain. Finally my father went to him and asked him to come inside, but he was feeling some hesitation about his dirty feet making into our clean home. Then I brought some water to let him wash his feet and come inside. Then he toweled himself with his duster and came inside and we also told him to take his container inside. He settled himself inside our room on a wooden chair wiping his container with his duster. My mother brought him some tea as his hands were still shivering and gave him some biscuits to eat along with tea. He was wearing power glasses which were still having some sign of rain water and while he was sipping his tea, his glasses were giving him a blur vision due to the contact of tea cup vapor to his glasses.

Since we knew its going to rain for next some hour so we told him to relax. I have been seeing him since my childhood and I knew what was there in that container. Still I can't forget the taste of his sweet which I miss today also. I tried that sweet in every other sweet shop but I was unable to find the taste of the sweet he used to prepare. Yes he used to make those sweets and then used to sold then in order to earn some money for him. He was a one man unit of all work from purchasing the raw material to production and then distribution including that little marketing which includes the free sample piece of sweet for taste. His sweet was made from milk and sugar which is called as 'peda' in local language. It is a sweet which is made by boiling a milk until it becomes semi-liquid and then adding sugar and other natural flavors like cardamon (elaichi) and saffron (kesar).

While taking tea he asked about me and my brother and how we are doing. He knew everyone in our family as we were living in that home since ages as combined family and also because we were his permanent customer. He has been a man of his own ethics and rules. He never used to give any child a single piece of his sweet without a penny as it was his business and bread n butter. Despite of this he used to give a piece of sweet to a child with whom he has met for very first time for free. While talking to him my father asked him about his age and he replied with a answer that shocked everyone. He was of 95+ years old and still he was working through his own and earning money for himself and his wife. For earning money, every day he has to take a round for 6-7 miles while walking which excludes the paddling of bicycle for some more miles. And at our surprise he told us that except his power glasses he was not suffering from any decease.

Then after talking for a long time about the changes occur in previous few years and about how the things were; when he was young, we realized that it had stopped raining. As soon as he saw that it had stopped raining and the sky was clear, he pleaded us that he will leave now. Through his behavior, manners and way of talking I realize that he was a very civilized and pleasant person. And before he leaves, my mother purchased some of his sweets and except that I took one more piece to taste from his container. Then my mother started giving him money for the piece that I had taken, but he refused to take that money saying that "till I m alive let them have the taste of my hand made sweet, who knows the future.". Those were really touching lines I will never forget.

I heard about his circumstances he was passing through, but his condition was not like this always. He was born and brought up in a good reputed family. He got good learning of enculturation from his parent. But due to some incident in his family he got married when he just got his job. His wife gave birth to a boy after 2years of his marriage. His earnings was not too much because he was a government servant but then also he gave his best education to his only child and made him a better man both personally and professionally. When he came near to a retirement from his job while his son was working in a good company, his son suggested him to move with him in another city. But he refused by saying that he is a fit man and he still can earn through some of his business plans. On the other hand before his retirement he made his son to get married to a girl. And he knew that in that city where his son was living, it is really hard to survive of 2 person where his son is the only earning person. And soon there was the third one to come, his grand son. So he took a decision to stay in the same city where he was, with his wife and will do some job.

After his son settled down, he started thinking of some business. He tried different things but didn't got succeed then finally he got success in one of this business. He kept his everlasting effort and made that business successful. Yes the business was not big and was the same what he was doing now. But the most important thing that he had earned till then was his own identity. And that is a biggest thing in any business either big or small. People started liking his sweets and soon he started getting more and more orders for his sweets. Soon he recovered all the money that he has spent in his son's studies and his marriage. But his wife's health was not good at that time. Due to the long hard work for completion of orders, they both were working overtime till late night. But his business was going very well, soon he owned his own sweet shop in a good place. On the other hand his wife health was getting worse, but she never showed him. Then one day she got seriously ill. He didn't informed his son and admitted her to a hospital. Soon his wife became well after being admit for 2 weeks. But to save her wife he spend all his money including selling his shop for submission of large and bulky bills of that expensive hospital. And that was the only hospital to save his wife's life so he didn't took any chance.

Later when they both came back home he didn't told anything to his wife and used to leave home for shop at the same time. After 2 months when his wife was good then he told her about all this and they both cried on their situation. His wife told him to ask some money from his son. But he refused saying that he can still earn and he is still a healthy person, but deep inside from his heart he just don't wanted to be a burden on his son to ruin his family happiness. He was now getting older but still he was full of passion and confidence on his GOD, the only thing what was coming in his mind at that time was "HE help those who help themselves." And reminding that phrase in his mind he rolled his hand sleeves up and took his bicycle, he fixed the sweet container on his bicycle's carrier and went out saying that "What if I don't own a shop, what if people can't come to my shop, instead I will go to each of them and will serve them with my best sweets. And above all, my shop is sold out not my name my identity. People know me, respect me and till they love the taste I will be serving them.". Since then and today its been more than 20years he is serving every one in my city with his best service and his ethics.

After I came to know all this about him. I found that he has been the evidence of a person's true will power, self respect, theism and had been an ultimate fighter. And now I realize that how important it is to take care of our own body and health for being a independent and self-respective person. And truly he deserve a respect for what he did till now.