I love pakoras and also roadside
tea. I have spent enough time of my life eating pakoras and having tea in and
around Delhi to know who these people are, where they are from, and what their
aspirations are. By conversing with these friendly ‘bhaiyyas’ who create magic
with besan and oil which we can’t replicate at home no matter how hard we try,
I have learnt that they really are ordinary people with hopes and aspirations. Our
politicians who live a luxurious life at our expense have clue about these people.
They come like monarchs of the yesteryear's before the elections in their fancy
cars or even helicopters protected by security forces (again paid for by our
taxes) and make long insincere promises. These obnoxious people know very
little about what they are talking. The latest salvo by ‘he who must not be
named’ with regard to roadside pakora stalls as gainful employment options for India’s
youth may go down as one of the most cruel statements in history after the “Let
them have cake” by the French queen.
Roadside pakora sellers in and
around Delhi usually hail from rural Bihar or Uttar Pradesh. Driven out of the
rural areas due to the crisis in agriculture, they are eking out a living in
Delhi with hopes of educating their children so that their children can have a
better life. If only our Prime Minister could listen to the ‘man ki baat’ of
these men, he would find out how hard these people work for upward mobility. They
are very concerned about their children’s education. Most of their children go
to private schools and also private tutors. If you ask them what they want to
become once they grow up, the answer always is ‘sarkari naukri’. Unlike Indian politicians,
none of them want their children to follow their footsteps and become pakora
sellers. Then who actually wants to take up the great job of a pakora seller
that is being offered. Nobody. It is a distress options for those driven out of
agriculture. Some please inform ‘he who must not be named’.
