munir

the other day as i was driving munir to the bandra site from college i struck up a conversation with him. munir, by the way, is the carpenter i work with. he is all of 24 years old, comes from a village outside haldia in rural bengal. he came to the city when he was 16 and worked as an apprentice with his uncle for a while before striking out on his own. he lives with mustaq, his cousin. mustaq is 26 or so, married with kids. a hurried marriage when he was 18. though younger, munir is the boss. while he is all professional courtesy and easy presence; mustaq is strict, tough and dedicated. both of them are a pleasure to work with. they love their work and do not suffer from that terrible obsequiousness that other carpenters do. anyway, back to the conversation i had with munir.

so, munir had managed to get himself a kholi in a slum in bandra east near bandra kurla complex. while him and mustaq lived in one, he had also managed to rent one for his workers. one day a builder came along and offered an enormous sum of money for munirs flat. with the gigantic sum in his pockets he now could afford a 2 bedroom flat on s v road in bandra- which he bought and now lives in. meanwhile his workers have moved out from the earlier place and now live in the flat munir used to earlier. the trickle down theory at work.

but munir cant afford the maintenance of the building and is thinking of giving it out on rent while he buys another flat near mount marys in bandra. he is doing well for himself. but the new money has made him anything but happy- he says. he does not know what one does with the money. the only thing he knows and loves is his work. the money seems to have placed a burden for him to become what he does not want to be but the world says he should be- a businessman. when asked what he would like to do with the money he has no idea. so there he is, continuing to do the only thing he knows how to do unaffected by his sudden prosperity. he still travels second class by train from place to place- because he likes to. i guess things will change once he gets married.