The long dark tea time of the soul

The story of Sunil and DGS Society, Plot No 6, Sector 22, Dwarka, New Delhi (011 42804054)

While I was away in the US between the months of september to november 2007, two things changed in the suburb of Dwarka, New Delhi. Big Bazaar opened its nth retail store in the new ambience mall off NH24. Reliance fresh is all set to open the first of its six stores of Dwarka in Sector 22/23. Simultaneously the biweekly haats, so long a common place where the residents of Dwarka used to shop for their fresh vegetables, a source of employment for at least a thousand employees, have been closed down by Delhi police. The thelawallahs have also been asked to move elsewhere within a couple of months. These two events are related, obviously the first triggering the other, rendering many people unemployed within a month, the state snatching citizens of their choices. If there ever is a more compelling reason against entry of big business houses in retail, it is this. Reliance is not banking on pure capitalist competition with the local vegetable vendors to turn his Rs 2500 crore into profits. Its investment is accompanied by a healthy dose of state terror, arbitrariness and brutality. Activities which were going on for nearly a decade are suddenly termed illegal, because reliance needs profits. There are a hell lot of people who think reliance retail is a bright idea, the argument being the state should not interfere in citizen’s right to trade, but don’t expect people like these to speak against state power when it is favouring the big businesses. They are also the same people who won’t know what is wrong with random ID checks by police in New Delhi.

Now, part of the reason why I have not bought a house in any of the sprawling localities in our metros is my inability to fit in what is termed as a ‘civilized’ society. Previously while staying in Noida, I tried to organize the housemaids to demand weekly paid holiday, with very little success. As I said elsewhere, dignified employment in the unorganised sector is the real labour reform that India needs. This time in DGS Society, Sector 22, Dwarka, things went a bit further. Although I have lost most of my proactive edge because of work and marriage.

Sunil is (was?) a sweeper employed by the DGS society, and is (was?) working here for more than three years. DGS (Directorate General of Security) is mostly housed by retired or servicing personnel of the security agencies. There lives one Mr. Bannerje, IAS, ex-secretary to the Government of India in apartment number D14. IAS Banerjee had a towel worth Rs. 1400 which one day somehow fell down from his apartment. Sweeper Sunil found the Rs. 1400 towel on the ground , kept it with him for a couple of days for some claimant, and in the end decided to take it with him. Now I know that Sunil didn’t (and couldn’t) steal the Rs. 1400 towel, IAS Banerjee knows it for sure, and all the executives of the society know it for a fact. Still Sunil was thrown out of his three year old job, without any notice, without any formal police complaint, and without releasing his last month’s salaries and provident fund. This was clearly against the established law. Sunil rightly went to the labour court. All of this also happenned when I was in the USA.

When I came back to India, I was told of this incident by Sunil’s brother (also working as a sweeper in DGS), ‘saab bhai ko bina baat ke nikal diya, aap kuchh kar sakte hai kya?’. He told me this because earlier I had exhorted them to get organized and demand minimum wages for their jobs. All to make sure that the urban ‘civilized’ societies follow the law, in letter and in spirit. I asked Dheeraj to talk to IAS Banerjee, and ask him to withdraw the complaint. I also gave him a copy of labour laws of New Delhi. They talked to the IAS, told him about their loss, and he was sensible enough to talk to the society officials.

Here it stopped going according to the script. The society officials refused to hear any pleas. Similar to “goods once sold will not be taken back”, Sunil’s brother was told “people once thrown out will not be taken back”. Courts would anyway take a lot of time. I decided to talk to the society officials and explain to them the relevant labour laws and take necessary guarantee on Sunil’s behaviour, reimburse for any theft. My inference was that the people connected with security agencies will be interested in upholding the laws of the country. How wrong was I!!

The office clerks were clear on this matter, “kisi ne uske against mein, aise hi anaap shanaap complaint kar diya tha“. So were the security guards, “ham to bole rahe the ki chori nahi kiya hai Sunil. koi suna hi nahi.” These people were working with Sunil for more than three years. I had barely moved in last year and half of the time I was out of town. I decided to talk to the secretary of the society,, Mr ARNP Sinha who had different ideas. A decent man, a retired bureaucrat, the first question he asked on knowing that I am a tenant in the society, “agar aap yaha rahte hai to uski (sunil ki) taraf se kyu bol rahe hai?”. That comment underlines the notion of “civilized” India. Its not a question of right or wrong, legal or illegal. Its all about “hamari taraf, hamare jaise log” vs “unki taraf, unke jaise log”. Anyways, the secretary told me that Mr. Banerjee is a respectable IAS officer, ex secretary to the government of India, a respectable man who can never be wrong. (now what kind of respectable IAS officers use towels worth Rs. 1400, towels that they deem worth more than a citizens job and his dignity?). I didn’t speak out these thoughts aloud, but explained to Mr Sinha that if Sunil has indeed been a thief, they should refer him to the police, and most people in the society think that he s not a thief. I explained to him the law which states that anyone working for more than three years must be made permanent, and he/she cannot be thrown out of job (and must be given a three months notice) without serious misconduct allegations. Such allegations must be filed in the form of an FIR to local police station. The secretary explained to me that they will not take back Sunil in his job at any cost, and I should not poke my nose in this affair, “aapki family hai yaha, aap in sab pachro me mat pariye”. I told him that it is for the labour courts to decide now. Then we moved on to other small talk regarding Dwarka, his job, his son’s career, software companies and Chhattisgarh.

That conversation was in the third week of December. I lost interest in Sunil’s case, as there was nothing more that I could do. His application was still pending in the labour court. The arrival of the new year brought some good news. In the last week of December the court sent a notice to our society, which they ignored. A second such notice arrived within a week, and the society had to reply that Sunil was never fired from his job. In fact, and it is true, they had not given Sunil any written dismissal order. All they had done was to ask him to stop coming to work from the next day onwards, and ask the security guards to stop him from entering the society premises. Now that was positive. It means that, using the court’s order, Sunil can come back to his job from the next day. By now. for him it was more a matter of dignity than to get his old job back.

But the “civilised” society cannot digest the fact that their servant could defy them, that they had to bow to someone much inferior to them in caste, education, finance, and social status. They could not fathom how the constitution of India guarantees equal rights to every individual, how the rich are sometimes forced to eat their own words, that our broken systems sometimes work in unexpected ways. And for them, I was clearly the villain. They somehow convinced themselves that it was not Sunil that they lost to, but the young, educated, software engineer, Anoop Saha living in apartment number H25 who turned out to be a real gaddar. Sunil was still not allowed to enter the society premises, despite him being an employee, and I was summoned to the office on Sunday, 6th January 2008.

Initially I refused to visit the office (“woh kaun hote hai mujhe bulane waale, zarurat hai to khud yaha aaye”), but Sonali wanted me to not take any more pangas with the society. I went and this time the moment I entered president’s office, he started shouting at me. “aap samajhte kya hai khud ko? yeh sab undesirable activities me aap shamil hoge to achcha nahi hoga. Is sunil maamle me aapka kya interest hai? aapko chain se rahna hai ki nahi society me? aap jaante nahi ho mujhe.” The retired IG of BSF, Mr RK Sharma, claimed to be a people manager for more than 40 years. I told him the truth. That, unfortunately, I could not play any more proactive role in Sunil’s case, but would have definitely presented myself as a witness to his integrity in the court. That I had talked to the secretary only to explain to him the law of the land. That it is the responsibility of every citizen of the country to uphold the laws. “bazaar me pocketmaar ko kisi ki pocket maarte hue dekhoge to shor machana aapka bhi farz banta hai”. This last comment seemed to unnerve President Sharma along with the secretary and cashier, who were also present in the room. The retired IG of BSF also added some casteist slurs on Sunil (aap in chamaaro ke baare me kya jaante hai?), but again claiming that Sunil has not been thrown out of his job. But now their position is that he has himself stopped coming to his job since October. I said that it is not right and both of us know that, and then added in full measure that the president should enroll himself in a “shishtachar ki class” to learn good manners on how to talk to the people, and if needed I can spare a couple of hours in a week to teach him. (har insaan dusro se kuchh na kuchh seekh sakta hai. umar matter nahi karti. ek mai hi aapka sachcha hamdard hu.)

That was the end. This time the cashier said, “ab aap dekhiye ham kya karte hai. aap jaiye“. Nothing much happenned after that. I know that they cannot do anything and told them so. I did the normal weekend activities as Sonali comes to Delhi only during the weekends and we get very little time together. I am still waiting for the “dekh lenge” part. Thankfully I am well conversant with law, have contacts in Delhi police and media, and share a excellent relationship with my landlord, who is also an IITian and an IPS officer. I am already looking for a house in Noida.

I regret not recording the interesting piece of conversation that I had yesterday in the society office. (note to myself: always carry mobile phone.) I regret the manners of our civilized society, and the prevalence of the notion of caste and hierarchy. More importantly I wonder what kind of people were manning the most important chairs of our government for the last 60 years. What kind of people did my parents feed with their taxes? Why were such creatures mad in their power, why do they love to exert their authorities in seemingly illegal ways?

Have things changed with time? Are our new age IAS/IPS officers different? Do they understand the citizens’ rights? Do they have more respect for the law and the constitution? Can we be sure that 20 years from now, no permanent employee will be thrown out of his job without adequate notice and compensation? Something tells me that it is so. That the state is more ready to respect individuals more in the 21st century. That there is hope. But how do I reconcile that hope with the events mentioned in the first paragraph? Isn’t the Delhi police’ and administration removal of vegetable vendors, seemingly to satisfy reliance retail, not an extension of the very same attitude? Wasn’t their previous ban on fish vendors in the haats a reflection of brahminical attitudes that treats non-veg as dirty and impure? Why are all of us being shown our place repeatedly by the state? Does state violence denying citizens of their legitimate rights jutisfy counter-violence by the citizens to assert those? These are the questions that will always keep me occupied.