Delhiwale: ‘Earnest Hemingway’

Spread the love

[ad_1]

Isn’t he a Hemingway lookalike? Perhaps because of his beard, or his cap, that greatly resembles the iconic fishing cap that the great American writer would wear.

The man, in fact, calls himself Fakkar Baba. “I picked this name myself…because I’m a fakkar (read ‘fakir’).” He explains the meaning of this word: “One who has nothing… I have nothing.”

The man is sitting by a shuttered store in a central Delhi locality. He raises his right arm, pulls back his shirt sleeve, and shows a tattoo — AS Rathi. “My real name… A stands for Anand.”

In his late 60s, the man talks of his life’s primary passion. “I love walking. I keep walking from morning till evening… I walk across Delhi, I walk in Gurgaon, Faridabad… So many things you see on the way as you walk…things that cannot be seen on television.”

His daily outdoor soirees keep him away from his tanhai (loneliness). “The people who used to be closed to me have either drifted away or died.” He says he has siblings scattered across Delhi and Gurugram. “But relations between brothers and sisters do not remain the same after parents are gone.” Rubbing his hands together, he mutters: “I’m totally alone.”

His wife has passed away, and though he has a son with whom he enjoys “nice relations”, he lives “alone in my room in Sultanpuri”.

Pointing at the bag placed beside him, he explains that it is filled with empty bottles. “This is how I earn… I walk and walk and pick up things that people throw away on the road.” He sells these to a recycler. The money he earns helps him pay his bills.

Responding to a query, he confirms that he doesn’t have a single friend. With such an utterly solitary existence, loneliness is inevitable, he concedes. “But I have a solution,” he says, his eyes twinkling.

“I love singing old Hindi film songs of Kishore Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar, Manna Dey and Narendra Chanchal…. Whenever I feel tanha (lonely), I start to sing.”

That’s what he does next. He breaks into the Muhammed Rafi song ‘Hafiz Khuda Tumhara’. The rendition is beautiful, though there is just one person, and a street dog, for an audience. He later poses for a series of photo portraits but urges to use for print a picture in which his face is not visible, “so that my brothers and sisters don’t get embarrassed”.

[ad_2]

Source link

Tags:

16 thoughts on “Delhiwale: ‘Earnest Hemingway’

  1. surattense exhibits substantial diuresis when compared to that of furosemide whereas decline in serum calcium and blood urea nitrogen levels provide strong mechanistic background for its diuretic potential in dysuria treatment coupons for viagra Following delivery or second trimester abortion

  2. Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I really appreciate
    your efforts and I will be waiting for your further post thanks once again.

  3. What’s up it’s me, I am also visiting this site on a regular basis,
    this site is genuinely pleasant and the people
    are really sharing fastidious thoughts.

  4. After looking over a handful of the blog articles on your blog,
    I truly appreciate your technique of writing a blog. I book marked it
    to my bookmark webpage list and will be checking back soon. Please visit my website as well and tell me how you feel.

  5. I don’t even know how I stopped up here, but I believed this submit was great.

    I don’t recognise who you are but certainly you’re going to a famous blogger if you
    happen to are not already. Cheers!

  6. Right now it looks like Movable Type is the best blogging platform out there right now.
    (from what I’ve read) Is that what you are using on your blog?

  7. I simply could not leave your site prior to suggesting that I extremely enjoyed the standard information a person provide
    to your guests? Is gonna be again regularly to
    check up on new posts

  8. Oh my goodness! Amazing article dude! Many thanks, However
    I am having problems with your RSS. I don’t know the reason why I am unable to subscribe to
    it. Is there anybody else getting identical RSS problems?
    Anyone that knows the answer can you kindly respond?

    Thanks!!

  9. I don’t even know how I ended up here, but I thought this post
    was good. I don’t know who you are but certainly
    you are going to a famous blogger if you are not already 😉 Cheers!

  10. Wow, superb weblog structure! How lengthy have you ever
    been blogging for? you make running a blog glance easy.

    The entire glance of your web site is magnificent,
    let alone the content!

  11. you are in reality a good webmaster. The web site loading velocity
    is incredible. It kind of feels that you’re doing any distinctive trick.
    Moreover, The contents are masterpiece. you’ve performed a excellent job in this subject!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *