Who cares a damn- if he lives or dies?

At any bungalow, apartment, office or mall, the first person we come across is the watchman who checks at the gate or who shows us place to park our car. Many a time we do not like to be checked, we do not like to be directed and show our irritation. In bungalows, in apartments or in offices, he would be sent to nearby shops for getting tea, biscuits etc. But if he is missing from his post for a few moments just to have some tea, we become impatient. Irrespective of the weather, irrespective of conditions in the city, he holds his post at the cost of his health and his life. Most of the watchmen are old and, if we broach and find out, they may have tragic lives. Do we care a damn about the man at gate? Are we bothered if he is alive or dead?




Who cares a damn- if he lives or dies?


Be it scorching heat or freezing cold,
or let the Heavens fall.
He has to be always at gate,
at his master’s his beck and call.

Let the whole world dance in festive mirth,
or the city is ablaze in communal flare.
A single day off from duty-
his tyrant master will not spare.

He may simmer in fever
or writhe in pain.
To whom can he plead?
To whom can he complain?

For ever in scare of his master,
he works for a meagre wage.
Better are the dog in kernel
and the lonely bird in cage.

A little stroll for a cup of tea
is enough to make his master bark.
A little chat with neighbour’s guard
is enough to ignite the imminent spark.

Not only the master,
also in fray are his wife and kin.
Treated worse than a mongrel,
what is his folly? What is his sin?

If he questions a visitor
who is a stranger to him,
his master berates and shouts,
as he happens to be friend of him.

If he leaves a visitor without questions,
as he seems familiar to him,
his master breaths fire and smoke
as he has broken ties with him.

Once for a missing jewel
of his master’s daughter,
he was spanked and abused,
for what she lost in beauty parlour.

Laments he – “wretched and ungrateful,
inhuman to the core.
A beggar at heart
with pocket of crore”.

Not only with his master,
the trend is same in other places too.
If “vagaries” define his master’s moods,
lunatics rule in other places too.

Be it a business house or a Government office,
who cares a damn for the man at gate?
Guarding the vaults and the lives of ungrateful-
call it his destiny or call it his fate.

Five years ago, his son had eloped
with his neighbour’s daughter,
the ensuing shock killing his wife,
leaving his life to totter.

He too would have died
but for his loving daughter.
Old he may be, frail he may be
but he has to carry on for his daughter.

Shankar Lal is his name.
But “Yeh, yeh, watchman” only people call.
Not received a single friendly pat
in his tenures in apartments, offices or the mall.

He live or dies,
who cares a damn for the man at gate?
He too has some one he loves.
But who cares a damn for the man at gate?


-- Suby

 

Dear Roopadadia,
Thanks for the nice feedback.It is great to note that your office has set a very good example by treating the support staff humanly.

- suby

 

Dear Viji,

Thanks for the nice words.

- Suby

 

Dear Ridha,

I myself wrote the post after some soul searching. As we are fortunate to have good lives, we do not think much about these poor people even though they may be really honest and faithful.

- Suby

 

Sridhar Sir,

Thanks for your encouraging words. I have seen this in my own office. When the city police was conducting a mock drill (to comb a terrorist - a hypothetical case) and were checking all employees at the gate, not only staff but many of the officers too resented as we work in a PSU and think too high about us. Since I have handled safety and security, I know the problem. Is it not our duty to co-operate with the security when they are doing checks only to preempt danger for us? Not only most of us do not co-operate, we treat them shabbily too. This very much true with Government officials, politicians etc.

- Suby