With a shadow of disappointment on my face, I was standing at the railway station in Hampi, waiting for an autorickshaw. The heritage town has a culture of renting autorickshaws for days together. It did not suit my pocket, as this was supposed to be a budget trip.
Anji stopped his three-wheeler near me with a broad, welcoming smile. He introduced himself to me, and said his name meant Hanumanji. I got into the autorickshaw, we chatted for a while, and I asked Anji to take me for breakfast. I insisted that he join me for the meal.
He finished it before me and left the table. I went to pay the bill and found out that he had paid his share, saying he could not take anything free.
In the next five days, I found him to be a man of values — something even rarer than the ruins of Hampi now.
Anji took me all around Hampi, starting at 5.30 a.m. daily. We visited all the authentic and home-cooked food joints in Hampi. He even managed to get dishes from an aunt, as I had been yearning to eat them for a long time. He showed me his house and farms. The silvery white moonlight falling on the paddy fields at night at Kojagiri with a bike ride Anji offered was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. He did not want me to miss anything Hampi has to offer and kept asking every time if I was happy with the experience.
Anji told me that he went to school till Class 7 and could not continue his studies as he had to help his father get his sisters married.
He has not been to any institute to study hospitality management, yet his hospitality was extraordinary. Not even once did I feel unsafe and insecure around Anji. He has a nice, warm personality — happy, passionate, and satisfied with the work he was doing.
I met an economics reporter who was working for the German government. We had long talks on the global economy, history, art, and culture. He said the concept of happiness was pretty global nowadays. It might be right from his perspective, but the Indian value system does not allow me to believe so, and Anji has proved him wrong already.
Growing up, we are always told that we should pay back when we are capable of doing so. I can give away a particular amount from my earnings. But does giving back have only that limited meaning? The kind of respect, sense of humanity, affection, and security, with the added advantage of happiness and satisfaction for himself, that Anji was giving back cannot be valued monetarily.
If I compare myself with Anji, I am far behind him.
I don’t think we will ever meet again, but I will try to retain and pass on the “Anji concept of paying back”. I don’t believe in taking many pictures as they will not capture the essence and serenity of the moment, but whenever I see a Hanuman depiction, I remember Anji.
Harshalprakash55@gmail.com
