babu khan pathan

babu khan pathan was our driver for at least 10 years. i went to his house in borivili east today- in a slum that lies on a hill near national park.

his affection and ours for his family has always been very strong. we have been through difficult times like the 1993 riots together when they had come to live at our place. i still remember how shaken babu was when he finally went back to the home he had run away hurriedly in the middle of the night from and found out that all his investments and possessions were a pile of rubble. he had to start all over again.

this affection has continued even after he left our service and started various small businesses in borivili east including running a few rickshaws. the man has over the past few years hit it big, become a local leader of some type; gained control of a large amount of land around his place; and runs an anti-corruption ngo with branches- as he proudly pointed out- all the way till baroda.

i remember his house from ages ago when our family had gone to his place for id celebrations- the colored chickens running around the yard and the decrepit old house. this time i was there to help with the rehabilitation project that babu wants to put under way for his family and his neighbors under the sra.

the signs of upward mobility were all over the house. the decrepit shed was now a two storied rcc structure and a crystal chandelier hung from the center of the false ceiling.

he has three sons and one daughter. firoz- the eldest is a lawyer who is not embarrassed about piggybacking his career on his fathers considerable personality; waheeda the second is a beautiful smart professional working for standard chartered bank in fort- and disproves any categorization that society might make of the oppressed muslim woman- her family supports her and admires her gumption; amjad is a salesman for whirlpool; and moin the youngest is a good looking wastrel working as an instructor in a gym.

all of them probably earn more money than i do right now- still i am treated as a ‘chote nawab’ when i go there. it is incredibly embarrassing- being treated as this generous upper class dude who deigns to treat them well. amit and mayuri were treated to so many stories of “all the things rohan baba, sonal baby, saahab and memsaahab had done for them”. i was cringing away. this deep seated sense of a class difference is so difficult to outgrow.

maybe they were just patronizing me. i hope they were.