How a Slumboy makes most of Lockdown - 2

6 days and we have run out of options by now. We lost our money. I stole a wallet and we managed to eat from the leftovers and now I have nothing but a flickering cellphone in my hand. Is this the way of destiny? What would I do with a phone? I don't even know how to use it. Neither am I literate nor have I ever touched a phone. But we used to watch some blue films in bunty's phone so I might understand the basics.

Thousand thoughts were running in my mind and it paced my heartbeat. What should I do? Shall I handover it to police or is it a blessing and a way of help by God? I kept the phone in my pocket and moved back to my hut. I slept over with various random probabilities that kept running through my head.

Next morning, I woke up to find the phone missing. I searched it everywhere but with no trace. I was convinced that it was my dream. I never actually went to the dump yard last night. Surya, my younger brother was crying, and I couldn't see our mother. My sisters were wide awake, hungry since the last 24 hours. This garbage won't keep us alive. I need to find another way to feed my family. I moved towards the nearby streets to ask for some food because even the money wasn't helping us now. The roads were empty. Dogs and cows were probably hungry too. Only the lucky people had an opportunity to stay at home without any worries. Hardly 1000 cases were reported (all that I heard over our radio). The world was on halt with few thousand deaths. Do you know how many people die of hunger annually across the world?

Take a Guess!

8-9 million people, annually. Yes, that goes to 22,500 people roughly, every day. No matter what reasons you have, but the nations spend hundreds and thousands of crores on nuclear weapons and defense. People are donating money to PM Modiji for fighting a disease that has killed only a few people. I wanna question these people, aren't we human beings? Don't we deserve to get a 3-time meal to fill our stomachs? Can't people like you who are capable, donate on a regular basis for the sake of humanity?

Who am I to raise my voice? My voice wouldn’t even reach to the people. As the millennials say and I quote, 'Who the fuck cares?' Nobody does and nobody will. My mother returned and saw me crying on the street across our home. She gave me the phone and told me that she saw it besides my shoulder and thought that I had stolen it. My mother tried to sell the phone but couldn't find a buyer. Meanwhile, the police vehicles approached, and they started beating us with lathis for walking around during the lockdown. Everyone is advised to stay home and stay safe, but nobody mentioned about people who don't have a home. We are treated as a threat for the society whereas the fact is that they were the ones who were the carrier of the virus across the globe. Yes, the rich and affluent people are responsible for the spread of a disease which is now a pandemic.

Well, now we are beaten up badly and stranded alone hungry. I had no hopes of living like this, but I was determined to feed my mother and my family. I woke up with a phone in my hand that could have been the meal for our family for a month. But the phone wasn't of any use. It was probably not working either. I showed it to my friends, and they said that it might have turned off as the battery must be drained out. Sintu had a charger which he found from the same place. He took it with the same purpose of selling it. But that was not going to help, because how do we get electricity?

Though some of our neighbours had electricity which was stolen from wires passing by, extracting it by illegal means, but we weren't on talking terms with them. They were gundas of the area and why would they allow us to charge the phone? But this was the time to make peace with those who can turn out to be our saviours. I started walking towards their hut and they were more than friendly to host me. They might be gundas but at the end of the day, they were amongst us, our own community. I eventually charged the phone and turned it on.

I never imagined that the phone can change my life. Positively and negatively both. A guy entered the hut. To my surprise, he was the same guy who hit my mother and snatched away our lifetime savings. He saw me and was filled with rage. He shouted questioning my reason of being there. He was under the belief that I came back for revenge. But his mother managed to calm him down and explained the situation to him.

He settled down with a glass of water. I was shit scared. He started questioning me and after infinite answers, he was convinced that my intention wasn't to start a fight. He apologized for his behaviour and told me that even he reports to a gang leader of the area. He was forced to become a gunda because when he was my age, he had been in a situation where he needed money for his family. I heard his story and all I could think was, 'Why is it only us who face the consequences?' But he corrected me by saying nobody is set free in this world. Everybody is chained to something or the other. People with huge houses and money aren't happy either. You have to make the most out of the opportunities you are presented with. The varied people and cultures create the balance of the universe. There has to be a Lion in the jungle. But every animal can't be a lion. If that happens, the balance of the nature would be hampered. There are monkeys, deer, tigers, elephants, birds, wolves and other creatures who create an environmental cycle.

Similarly, the human race only exists because of the balance between the Rich and Poor, God and Evil, Leader and Followers and so on. He kept on saying things which inspired me to the core. This was the new beginning of realisation in my life. I wished to make him my master and pursue all the knowledge he had but the hunger took over the charge of my body and I was back to my senses. I knew that I needed to search something to eat for my family.

He saw it in my eyes, asked me to follow him and took me to a place where he had hidden the money. He had accumulated bundles of different denominations of currency. Nobody could even count that money. No matter how cruel he was but I saw the kind heart he possesses through his eyes. He wanted me to take the money I need for my family. But again, my face was numb. We couldn't buy food even if we had the money. But God had his ways. He had sent an angel for us. He assured me that he'd arrange for the necessities. That was when the door of my kind heart opened. I was thinking of taking all the money for my family to feed them for months. But now I was thinking about the 1700 people struggling like us in the neighbourhood.

What happened after this shook me to the core.
Stay tuned to find out.