Chayya

Today morning, while going to office I met someone, someone very local but still there was something which was very neat and different about her. Unlike most of the days when I have to blindly drive on Delhi crowded roads for reaching office at 9 , I left really early almost an hour early. After crossing the lonely roads of naraina which came as a big surprise as those roads are always crowded with cars like ants in anthills , my eyes searched here there for something for a tea shop. Just before I could cross Delhi Cant, a small girl came up to me with some roses saying good morning madam. That” good morning madam” was so impressive moreover unexpected that I had to stop my car and talk to this young lady. Unlike the usual girls on the streets, she was very well dressed in a red skirt and blue top which was not even torn from anywhere. A very neat kid with a yellow flower in her hair and small silver earning dropping down her ear came up to me and said “kya hua didi , fool le lo””sirf 10 rs ke hai” with a sweet but unwanted smile on her face. She didn’t look like the others who were present there; she didn’t look like the other I have seen till date on roads. Her name was chaaya and she made sure that I pronounce it correctly, quite a proudful girl I must say. Innocently she even told that her name was kept after some heroines name her dad liked in bollywood. Her dad was a worker and all she knew was“who subah ko jakar raat ko aate hai aur kabhi kabhi toh raat ko bhi nahi aate” “kabhi kabhi jabi unka bada sahib unka gussa karta hai toh woh achche nahi aate” she probably didn’t know what was all this but then hearing all this again and again made her assume things on her own atleast to tell others. She goes to a government school where she says her favourite teacher is ritu ma( she calls all her teachers as ma, at first I thought her mother is a teacher but then realized this when she took 3 names all with the suffix ma). She stays with her mother and 4 more sisters, and she is a youngest among the lot.  She told me “mein toh nahi aati yaha dida aati hai,aaj who nahi aayi toh mi aa gayi” “me ko dada nahi nahi aane dete who kehte hai mein bade ho kar office jaungi” .. in a broken language and with unknowing expressions she made me realized the big dreams she had in her eyes. The dreams of being big ,the dreams of her sister’s wedding with some guy in their locality called “peda” (quite a funny name but her sarcastic stare at my smile brought it  to an end) ,the dreams in which she wanted to become an actress wearing a “hara” green dress and long hair… the big dreams of a small girl which she has decorated in a beautiful package in her heart. Both of sat there of 20 minutes chatting watching traffic , she kept on admiring my watch for some time and then cutely said “ yeh dono alag alag kyun hai ek lal aur ek nila aaisa kyun” “ ek hi rang ka patta nahi tha unke paas” quite a raw language but very sweet. When I offered her the apple mumma gave in the morning she said no for it saying that her dad has instructed her not to eat anything from anybody on the road and the funny part was the 2^nd statement “ jo mile usko ghar le aa jiya karo”. So she took it and kept it inside her huge pink purse which she called her “potli”. To my surprise she had a mirror and a comb in her bag which she took out when I adjusted my hair band while going back to my car. 

More than anything else I could learn or the gyaan people give ,I would say I found a cute little friend called “Chayya” I’ll always remember her for the big dreams in her small eyes ,the big bag she is holding in her small hands and most of all the innocence in her heart with which she was selling roses on the road.


Undoubtedly today, I have bought the prettiest bouquet of roses from the most beautiful girl….. Chayya