Indians have been recycling their waste even before sustainability became a UN goal and showing concern for environment fashionable. Today the situation is bleak and the masses are expected to do something about it while the classes jet set and zip zap zoom in their fancy yachts, cruises and jet planes. Well i won’t get into pointing fingers and ask why should we because here is a lovely story that unfolded before me because Indians in general believe in recycling.😀😀

Welcoming the kabadiwala, loosely a junk dealer, actually a rung below the dealer, a clutter collector who goes from home to home buying old newspapers, used glass bottles, broken metal and plastic and then sells those to the dealer, every few months is a routine task in most households. Every house has a paper corner where the previous days’ newspaper goes and near it is some place for keeping the rest of the junk to be sold to the kabadi on his next visit. I remember we used to get ice-cream treats or a little outing after the kabadi’s visit, for having collected our trash responsibly and giving it away to the kabadi.

I had a lot of old newspapers and there were empty cartons of every size because of the ease of online shopping. Add to it every little piece of plastic and empty cartons of toiletries that i collect diligently either to give in my school or to the kabaddiwala for recycling. I have a big carton in which i keep putting all these things and call the fellow when the carton is full which is usually once a quarter. I asked Shubham to keep an eye on the fellow whom i usually give away all my junk. Luckily he came and I called him out to take away my collection!

He came, we haggled a bit over the price and then Shubham brought out the heap of papers and other things in front of him to weigh and take away after paying whatever was right. He started collecting the papers and the cartons in his big sack. As he was filling a few small cartons tumbled out of a bigger one. And he looked up to me a little timidly. He then said, “Sister! May I ask you something if you don’t mind?” I wondered what he wanted to ask but nodded in agreement. He then asked a little hesitantly if the soap carton that had fallen down was a really good soap? “Meaning!” I exclaimed. And he then said shyly if i could tell him if the said soap was really good or were there more better than it.

I looked at him questioningly and he immediately became defensive and continued, “Please don’t misunderstand! Actually summer is here and it’s too hot in my village. My wife gets a dry skin and I don’t understand much about this. Someone from here is going to the village and I’ll send it to her through it.” I told him the soap was good and that he could also send an another one or a facewash and moisturizer. He then asked if the soap had a nice fragrance and if it would really make his wife’s skin soft and supple. The sincerity with which he asked me these questions touched my heart. Here was a man almost 2000 km away from his wife wanting to send her something to make her feel and look beautiful; while not knowing when he himself would be able to go and meet. I asked him about his family and he told how he earned here and sent money home. That he had two children, both teenagers and how good they were in their studies and how his wife took care of everything back home.

I offered him some money to buy a beauty product for her. Initially he declined but accepted when i offered again as a gift to her from me. He thanked me profusely and also apologized for asking such a question and clarified that he would not have asked if he were educated enough and went his way. It warmed my heart to witness such a sweet love story and reaffirmed my faith in the emotion. It is such a universal feeling and I remembered the quote, “Love is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own.” – Robert A. Heinlein