Bablu

He was reaching till my waist when he was standing beside me and talking non stop. His expressions and body language were of a young man as if with too much experience in short time … his untidy look  was no where making him a bit low , sad or in-confident .

His words and gestures, way of describing things which were making me relive those historic moments was something that impressed me to the core and I fell for this 14 year old orphan boy who was famous as the local guide of that small village .

Yes i was holidaying with my husband last December and we were exploring Ranthambore Fort with "bablu" who smartly caught us as soon as we stepped out of our travel cab.
It was a 250 years old  mysterious fort .It astonishes me when i think and imagine the life then. What would they wear, eat and travel and converse… how the rani would be conversing with her raja in those earlier times,  what would be their daily routine, what would they wear on daily basis… the way they would dine,have lunch.The weirdest thought out of them was "Would the ranis sleep with all the jewelry and heavy clothes she used to wear in those days" lol... (Ask us… … the first thing we do after coming back form outside is to get into our home pajamas or harems to feel comfortable …) loads of such questions crosses my mind when I hear these figures and imagine the “life then”. And I think bablu understood the intensity of my interest and as if his whole guiding pitch was to hypnotize me and take me to that world (Though I would not mind given an option of returning back to the present whenever I want .. lol..) 

Anyway, what was amazing me more was the skills of this boy who was just 14, and talked as if he has seen life more than us.. his narrations were not less than a young director who was imagining and picturising the exact flash back scenes from the past.

Even though I am a well educated working modern female still I was following him with amazed expressions on my face at 2pm in a chilled winter noon and surprisingly at places where he said “madamji … thoda dhyaan rahkhiyega aaj poonnarmasi hai , aapko unn logo ke yahan hone ka ehsaas ho sakta hai”  (Be careful you might feel the presence of those people around you as today is full moon day ).I had goosebumps….   Scary is it? No it wasn’t … I was more thrilled to listen to all that, may be effect of his style of describing things.

I had visited many historic places earlier with guides and without guides but this was my ultimate experience. Thanks to Bablu , he knew his job very well. 

Yes at first even i thought and like every other tourist was pitying  him for missing his childhood and opting for this job at such an early age because of whatever haplessness in his life.But meeting bablu i realized, he was genuinely enjoying his job which was only the thing which he learnt and inherited from his father who died when he was 7. His father was a guide and he always took bablu along with him during his job. Little bablu coudnt understand much but enjoyed the ride on his fathers shoulders. When he was left alone, bablu made this the only inherited skill into his passion and realized  that he is enjoying it more than anything else he would perhaps do to earn his living.  Yes Bablu  wanted to become a renowned guide.(A very practical and  reachable goal for his life )
He has his own set of friends, a few relatives and is studying privately as well. 

Now that was a clarity in mind of a young boy who converted the most adverse circumstances into an opportunity to rise.

As i have been always believing that we learn from each person we meet in our lives.. bablu was among one of those. I appreciated his skills and wished him all the best for his future.

Bablu seen us off till our cab and ran to catch hold of a another tourist group to take one more step towards his goal.:-) He was effective, a front runner, i thought while getting into the cab.:-)

      Goodluck , Stay Blessed- J