AN URBAN VILLAGE

Its an early morning,the time is 6am,cloud is clear and quite cold,the mist in trees
and fog, a perfect setting for an artist to paint an landscape,a man Guru raj sits
on a wooden log recently cut by developers and contractors of BMP,an govt agency to
widen the road,all the existing structure some 50 year old has been brought down to make the traffic flow easy on this ever increasing road in city that is ever growing
and always on look out for a land by govt to build infrastructure to woo investors from world over for good business opportunity , make strong our economic and promise job to all.

This so far is an story of happiness if everything is going fine as planned by our
not so good politicians,they are after all the ultimate power!!!,now the thin line
between the development and might of people like Gururaj, who owns an small house and
has been working with an MNC on a minimal wage,He has been told by the floor manager
that he go on leave with out pay and will be notified when he has to join duty next.
Its been 20 days long since he is been laid off the duty,and ever since he has been
sitting on this wooden log making it quite comfortable for himself and few of his
neighbor friend enjoying a cup of hot tea,the steam of tea is in fact helping them
to beat the cold,

Now this is what he has to say in his own words"I remember my father scolding when I first came here looking for a job and after struggling for year or so I got a job and now its almost 3 years I have been working
with this co,today they don't need me,with no fault of our we have been asked to leave,we get weekly wage from our contractor"Gururraj calls his wife Mala and orders
a fresh cup of tea,!and continue to narrate his story "I use to boldly go out and buy something for my child(he has one son somu)and my family was happy,but now I am
left with no regular income and things are becoming more worse and am thinking of
going back to my village,over here its worst than village,I would call this an urban
village."he light up an smoke and settles down to have his tea and offering me a cup.

When I asked him what about your child's education?he says"that is not a problem
cause I am putting him an govt school"the smoking continues"I feel ashamed of myself
for we have to share a meal of one among 3 of us,I stand in line of free milk
every morning,and every night before I go to sleep I have to plan for next day
not an business plan but to arrange for food."there is air of solidarity among others
who are also listening and are quite supportive,they say its the fate of many of us
we just got to live on LIKE WE LIVE IN VILLAGE,THIS NO LESS THAN A VILLAGE,ITS AN
"URBAN VILLAGE"