I start the conversation, we talk about the strike. I ask him, "KCR coma main hain fast unto death karke, nateeja kya nikala?". Fast unto death has brought KCR to a coma, what result has come out of it? The autowallah tells me, the entire govt jobs are held by Andhra people. There's not even 30% from his Telangana. "Look at me, I am inter pass, and I drive an auto".
"Our villages, a lot of times we don't even have water to put in our fields. Here they have Godavari, there they have Krishna, we have nothing". I don't know the geography that well, and so I can't comprehend what he's talking about. "Naidu did a lot for hyderabad. Congress doesn't do anything for us". He curses. He asks me where I am from and asks me how many seats in the assembly do I have in my state. I tell him I dont know the answer, but it's less than Andhra assembly for sure. He thinks it's more.
A few mins later, as I walk home after some grocery shopping, I contemplate a couple of things. What is it like to not have a fixed income, a bi-weekly or monthly paycheck coming, and having bills to pay, family to feed. Why would the autowallah not prefer a "bandi", a regular shift? I had asked this question, and one person replied it earns them more, other one said he had never thought about it, it would be a good thing. The other is, that when a person thinks inter pass is a good enough qualification to be entitled for a government job, something is wrong. I just don't know what.
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