Meet John

John is 23. He hails from Jharkhand. Actually he is fro man bazaar, a small province in West Bengal.

'Wahan kuch tha hi nahi – waha rehta to naxal wale utha ke le jaate – to baap ne yaha bhej diya – hum adivasi hai '. He says the last few words in a very subdued tone fearing that I might throw him out of his occupation on the basis of caste. On assurance that I would throw him out only if he does not cook well, he smiles, with his teeth barely visible.

He came to Gurgaon 5 years ago in search of jobs along with his brother. Both brothers work in 6 places morning to evening. He does not have any holidays Sundays or Saturdays. Each place they on an average earn around 1500 Rs. They keep around 2500 Rs for themselves and rest he sends home back to Jharkhand. I didn't ask him why and whom he sends back the money.

He does not send his money back using a money order. He has a close group of friends, an one among them goes back to Jharkhand once a year. All the other friends will give that person them the money for rendering it their parents or wives back in the village. Sometimes on the way from train they get looted. Those are the worst days for the entire community. I am reminded of Dr Prabal sir's classes of micro finance

He did not know cooking while he came here. Initially both the brothers came here to work as household servants. Slowly they realized that it was far more hardwork, less honorable and less profitable profession. The aunty of the house where they worked taught one of the brothers cooking – the normal stuff parathas, rotis , sabji , omelettes. John was a quick learner. He learnt it quickly and passed on his experience in cooking to his brother. Now with his cookery lessons and little experimentation he is able to cook decent food. He says he is happy now – he is able to save little money for himself also. 'Thoda apne liye bhi paise ho jaate hai '

'Kya karta hai paiso ka '

' Picture dekh leta hoon – kapde wagarah kharid leta hoon'

' Girl friend nahi hai tera ' – I ask him in an amusing tone

'Nahi – girlfriend nahi hai ' – he replies back with some thought ' Hum logo ka girl friend kaha hota hai '

He likes hearing FM radio in his second hand mobile phone while cooking. He has a second hand mobile phone with a pre-paid connection. Whenever he needs to contact owners of any of the places he works he gives a missed call. I by chance picked up one of his call and immediately I could sense the trembling in his voice for his mistake for not cutting the line off at the right moment. I felt very bad that day. When I returned back I gave him a 10 Rs note as a bakshish to make myself relieve of the guilt.

He does not know to cook the different delicacies. He knows to cook only the normal sabjis , rotis and parathas. In break fast he knows preparing sandwiches and poha. But he is a keen learner and sometimes I would ask my mother to give him cooking lessons over the phone and he would try to replicate them. Whatever he cooks he cooks with his full soul and heart. To make him feel good we told him that he has the full freedom to run the kitchen as he wants and it is also his duty to keep the kitchen as he would keep it at home. He likes this fact a lot and makes sure that the kitchen are spotless clean.

He has a bicycle. He shares it with his brother. Sometimes he says goes for long trip on his bicycle with his brother near the huge malls

' Andar nahi jaata'

' Nahi humko ghoosne thodi denge' – he says unabashed .

I feel bad hearing this.

Sometimes I take him to reliance fresh for shopping groceries and vegetables. They joy of his face is a thing to watch when he would judiciously pick the right aloo and the right bhindi . He would feel bad when I would refuse him to carry all the baggages and I would act adamant that I would carry half the load. He feels it strange that being the ' malik' I should carry load.

In a small but significant way John has contributed my comfortable life here in Gurgaon. And I must also not forget that we both share the same link. We both hail from the same state and have come for the search of our own destiny in an alien place called ' Gurgaon'.