I'd written quite a while back about Suleiman, a rag picker, who was proud about his work and his words still echo in my ears and I quote, "Sir, this is a job that will never let you go hungry".
Suleiman has not been seen of late and though he's given us his cellphone number to contact him, whenever we needed his services, we'd called in a rag picker who'd come into our premises, this morning. We seemed to have accumulated quite a heap and its disposal was a necessity! The gentleman, however, was very picky and choosy saying that most of the junk wouldn't fetch him a penny. I tried telling him that people like him lifted the rag bags from door-to-door, sifted them out in their premises(a preliminary sorting out does take place at the doorstep for fixing the 'value' of the junk, though!) and disposed them off to suitable buyers, making their earnings in the process. And of course, there would be a few items that defy clearance but that was part of the larger 'bargain' in the process of rag disposal, eventually leading to their destruction. And as we all know, the bulk of the rag is processed and recycled for use, yet again.
The net result was that there was a lot of items that were left behind as not needed by him - citing an example to put things into the right perspective, the guy said that he would not take the old calendars(obviously with the first month of the new year just behind us, there were quite a few of them!) along with the bundle of newspapers.
To me, he appeared to be a sham rag picker and I can bet that he wouldn't survive in this business for long if he doesn't change his attitude.
Tailpiece.
1. Wonder whether this a universal phenomenon? If that be so, rag disposal can throw up a lot of problems in today's scenario as more and more people opt for living in multi-storeyed flats and gated colonies! Or was this yet another example of sheer 'mallu' arrogance?
2. I've already passed a diktat to the gentlemen in charge of security to forbid entry to this rag picker into our area, till he mends his ways. I would like to believe that today's experience was an aberration!
Suleiman has not been seen of late and though he's given us his cellphone number to contact him, whenever we needed his services, we'd called in a rag picker who'd come into our premises, this morning. We seemed to have accumulated quite a heap and its disposal was a necessity! The gentleman, however, was very picky and choosy saying that most of the junk wouldn't fetch him a penny. I tried telling him that people like him lifted the rag bags from door-to-door, sifted them out in their premises(a preliminary sorting out does take place at the doorstep for fixing the 'value' of the junk, though!) and disposed them off to suitable buyers, making their earnings in the process. And of course, there would be a few items that defy clearance but that was part of the larger 'bargain' in the process of rag disposal, eventually leading to their destruction. And as we all know, the bulk of the rag is processed and recycled for use, yet again.
The net result was that there was a lot of items that were left behind as not needed by him - citing an example to put things into the right perspective, the guy said that he would not take the old calendars(obviously with the first month of the new year just behind us, there were quite a few of them!) along with the bundle of newspapers.
To me, he appeared to be a sham rag picker and I can bet that he wouldn't survive in this business for long if he doesn't change his attitude.
Tailpiece.
1. Wonder whether this a universal phenomenon? If that be so, rag disposal can throw up a lot of problems in today's scenario as more and more people opt for living in multi-storeyed flats and gated colonies! Or was this yet another example of sheer 'mallu' arrogance?
2. I've already passed a diktat to the gentlemen in charge of security to forbid entry to this rag picker into our area, till he mends his ways. I would like to believe that today's experience was an aberration!
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