Partition

Partition

This short story is about an automobile mechanic, who was victim of his own mental fears.

RC Garage was a vehicle repairing workshop owned by two mechanics : Radhe and Chotu. They were quite knowledgeable about vehicle mechanism and very customer friendly. Hence I used to service my scooter at their garage since last 8 years. Our relationship has also grown over the years. Both of them worked in quite harmonious way and prospered in their lives under roof of RC garage.
My scooter has developed certain battery issue, hampering it’s performance. I called Radhe for the repair. He told me to visit the garage at 10 AM. My preferred time was around 4 PM. Surprisingly he was insisting on 10 AM. I could not understand the reason behind his insistence. Finally, I agreed on his timings.
I reached to his garage. He was waiting for me eagerly. I could not find Chotu around. I asked whereabouts of Chotu, which Radhe ignored to answer. I found fewer vehicles than usual in the garage. Radhe was totally engrossed in his work. This level of commitment to work can possibly be achieved when passion becomes profession. It’s always inspiring to watch such commitment.
While Radhe was working on my scooter, Chotu has arrived. I noticed that both of them have ignored each other’s presence. Chotu started working on client’s car silently. It was unusual because I have never seen both of them working so silent. The FM radio was also switched off. Chotu wanted a screwdriver, lying near to Radhe. I noticed that instead of taking help from Radhe, he went all way to another side of garage to get similar kind of screwdriver. I smelled dispute between them and as friend of both I thought to intervene to resolve the issue. I asked the reason for the dispute. Radhe kept mum but finally Chotu broke the silence.
Chotu disclosed that Radhe wants to work separately. On insistence, Radhe charged Chotu on financial cheating, which Chotu opposed vehemently. It seemed that Chotu was shocked on and argued passionately against Radhe’s decision. Since both of them did not have enough capital to buy or rent new garage, they had no option to share the same garage. Radhe insisted on separate timeslots for working and separate tool set. Hence they will have separate customers and tools to work with. I understood, the reason behind Radhe’s insistence on 10 AM was to make me his client, before Chotu arrives. Working at different timeslots on same garage means that each of them will work only for few hours and rest of day will be spent being unproductive. Separate hours of working, will also decrease their capability to handle more customers hence decreased revenue. Till now they used to share their tools and managing the business but separate toolkit will be costly to buy. Chotu’s arguments had made sense to me and I requested Radhe to sort out the issues and avoid the separation. Radhe was totally adamant. He has made his mind for separation. Finally Chotu turned emotional. He explained that he and Radhe were from same town and came to Mumbai together. They were trained under same Mechanic teacher and stayed together for initial years. They have shared the grief and happiness of life and supported each other in hard times. Chotu was not able to understand the reason for Radhe’s anger. Chotu requested, pleaded and begged Radhe to avoid separation but Radhe was not listening.

I left garage with heavy heart. That night, I was thinking about Radhe’s stubbornness. I felt that Radhe was not telling the real reason behind his decision. He was hiding some unexposed fact. Radhe’s body language was somehow not confirming his verbal expressions. Something was there in Radhe’s mind which was not coming out.
After few months when I went to service my scooter, I found that RC garage has been shut down. Neighbor told me that dispute between Radhe and Chotu grew and finally they decided to shut down the garage. My real worry was not to worry about them but find new knowledgeable mechanic for my scooter !!

I found new mechanic for my scooter and RC garage’s memory has been washed out from my mind. That day I returned home late night. I took last Borivali local train and reached my station at darkest hours of night and moments before wee hours of morning. It was raining very hard and I was in dire search of auto rickshaw. I am very afraid of whims of auto rickshaw drivers. They may give you ride or may not ! They are kings and we, as passengers are at mercy of their whims. Under heavy rain, luckily I found an auto, who was willing to give me ride. I just jumped into the auto. I was surprised to see Radhe as auto driver !!!!
I had many questions to ask. But Rain was so heavy that I was busy in saving myself from torrents of rain. Rain became nastier. Radhe could hardly see the road. I requested Radhe to wait till Rain slows down. He agreed. Coincidently we were stopped right in front of closed RC garage. Having no other option, Radhe took his auto under the shade of RC Garage. He came out of auto and touched the closed door of RC garage. Radhe seemed very depressed. I could not feel his energies, I have experienced when he worked as mechanic. He looked at few rusty tools lying on the floor. He picked one of it, judged it and threw it as useless. I could not stop asking Radhe that why RC garage was closed ? Radhe casually replied that he could not work with Chotu. Chotu was fraud. I could not feel the truth in his words. I wanted to grab him and shack him till he tell me the truth. I curbed my feelings and asked mere formal question “When did he started driving Auto and left his mastered profession ?” He replied that after shutting RC garage, he could not work as mechanic, the memories of RC haunting him. I felt that Radhe is opening up. I got closer to Radhe, put my hand on his shoulder and asked him to tell the truth. He turned around and I found small tear in corner of his eye.

He lighted a cigarette, exposing his inner dilemma.
“ My wife is very beautiful. All my friends were jealous of my fortune, including Chotu. That day I have invited Chotu for dinner.. At time of dining, Chotu crossed the limit. When my wife was serving him Roti, he suddenly touched her wrist intently twice... I could not bear that visual of his fingers touching my wife’s wrist.. I could not sleep at that night and till now that bloody visual keeps recurring in my mind. That day I have decided to sever all my relations with Chotu..”

The lid has broken and worms are coming out of bottle. I knew that Radhe haven’t spoken about this incident with Chotu or his wife and merely assuming things, based in his perception. I replied Radhe that touching wrist is very minor gesture. May be Chotu did not mean anything and it can be merely just a small incident !! May be Radhe was victim of his own suspicion, wrong perception and mental complex about his wife. Radhe was not accepting any of my arguments. He was adamant that Chotu had devil in his mind and if not stopped he could have stolen his beautiful wife.
Rain was stopped and we headed towards my home. Sometimes we can be blinded by our mental beliefs that we tend to forget the practical approach. Deep emotions became driving force and our actions are guided by emotions rather than reasonability. Pakistan’s founder Mr.Jinnah was having ambition of becoming India’s first Prime minister. As he saw that Jawarharlal Nehru was having greater chance, he fulfilled his lifelong ambition by creating new country based on religion. On the surface, Mr.Jinnah formed new country, Pakistan for Muslims community. The real reason might be his inherent desire to RULE. If Mr.Jinnah would have been first PM of India, may be Pakistan would not have formed. Same argument about desire to rule is applicable to Ambani family and Thakckery family’s division. Ambition is an emotion and so does Fear. In our case, Radhe’s inherent fear of losing beautiful wife was reason for his spat with Chotu. His fear has not just ruined his carrier and mental peace. But as we could not stop formation of Pakistan, separation of Ambani family or Rise of MNS (Maharashtra Navnirman sena), I could not stop RC garage’s partition.
Engrossed in these thoughts, I left Radhe’s auto. I was standing on lonely, wet road , watching Radhe’s auto crossing the potholes, splashing the dirty water and finally disappeared in the darkness.

I felt the silence,,, after the storm. I didn’t like that and wanted to save myself from it. I rushed to my home.


Regds
Vadan
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