Autokar Arumugam

Those were the days ......... days when human nature in general was less vile and wicked. Days when parents entrusted their children into the hands of maids, creche care-takers, tonga-riders and auto-drivers, all of them strangers and all without the indispensable MOBILE PHONE. I was entrusted into the hands of one such stranger when I was four. The auto-driver Arumugam. I called him auto-man or autokar(in my mother tongue) back then. The little ones like me, never got to SIT in the auto. We just hung out of the laps of older girls or metal grills in the auto. An auto meant for four would easily carry fourteen children and their school bags, most of which stuck to the auto defying all rules of physics. How I loved that auto, my deepest desire was to sit on the wooden bench that could be pulled up, opposite to the actual seat of the auto. Somehow I always ended up sitting on the metal bar instead. Every stop at the different houses to pick children up was interesting, some parents were kind enough to give all of us snacks to munch during out drive to school.

Above all these things the auto-driver was the single most important reason for making our trips to and from school a wonderful time. He would always talk, joke or occasionally yell to keep our minds off the congestion and lack of space in the auto. He would welcome every child as she stepped into the already crowded auto and greet the parents. As he started to move, he would ask "are you seated properly?. He had the knack of making every possible painful occassion light. When we had to wait in the evenings for bigger girls to come , he would play with us and chit chat with his stunning sense of humour and make us feel very good. When there were disruptions in the city that forced the schools to close, he would be one of the first auto-drivers to arrive,and take us all home safely- joking endlessly and getting us to forget that the city was actually tense. For all the small kids, he carried our bags saying, "are you a school girl or a donkey?, your bag weighs as heavy as a washerman's lot". Those silly things made me roll in laughter.

When I was eight I got very adventurous and went home by bus one day without telling auto-kar. The poor man had searched the school several times and came home to tell my grandparents that he could not find me. When I opened the door, he raised his hand to hit me,but then stopped himself. He scolded me severely, I was so ashamed that I had put such a loving man through an ordeal. In about an year's time we moved to a far away place and auto-kar was replaced by the town bus. My sister and I continued to recount the fun we had with auto-kar. I liked to look at the picture of one politician G.K.Moopanar, not because of his political ideals but because he looked so much like our beloved auto-kar.

Fourteen years later, when I was in college. At 8.30 am oneday, I heard an auto turn and honk."Rita......" I yelled to my sister "Autokar has come get your bag". I stopped and began laughing, we last went to school by auto when I was nine. As I kept thinking why I went back to childhood with one honk of an auto, I got the answer. Acts of kindness and love affect us in a special way and stay on in our subconcious forever. Even today when I hear the name Arumugam anywhere, I first think of him.

If he is still alive, autokar Arumugam must be 75. Is he dead or alive?, fit or frail?, active or ailing?. I dont know. But I am forever thankful that I had the opportunity of knowing such a benevolent man at such a tender age.