I was shifting my belongings to a rented house in Noida. The packers were late to arrive and by the time we finished, it was past the time allowed by the society. I suggested that we take the truck to Noida only in the morning. But the head of the moving company insisted that we try to drop the stuff at the night. After arguing for over an hour, I relented and we went. As expected we were not allowed to shift the belongings to the flat in the night. It was agreed that the truck would be parked close to the main gate and we would shift stuff in the morning. The head asked us to return in the morning and said he would ‘make arrangements’ for the labour. When i returned in the morning, I was enraged at the apathy of the unscrupulous transporter who had made no arrangements for the poor workers. They were instead forced to sleep on packing material on the pavement. They spent the whole night tormented by mosquitoes. And yet these men awoke after a largely sleepless night, had a cup of tea, ate a bun and went back to work without complaints. They even gave us the most gracious smiles when we tipped them 200 rupees – a petty compensation for our guilt. I guess the ones who suffer the most, are easiest to cheer.
