I am blessed

While returning from office, I got to sit in the seat behind the driver’s partition in the office bus. The bus rapidly filled up. A young boy then jumped up from the back row and came to sit beside the driver’s seat and started chatting with him. I looked at the guy thinking how come the company had started hiring such people…flashy dress, unkempt and long hair…cheap sandals on feet. It was when he started talking, did I realize that he was working as an errand boy in the company. He was happy at being allowed to travel ‘Zara soch’, he was saying, ‘teen hazaar ke salary se 500 nikala gaya tho kitna bacehga? Tho woh 500 tho bacha letha hun’ …with a happy grin. I thought the guy has just started so maybe the salary will increase once his probation/training period is over. Driver: “Tumko teen hazaar hi miltha hain kya?” Boy: “Haan, itnaich… lekin tu soch pehle mujhe 1500 ka salary miltha tha…ab tho teen hazaar ho gaya hain”...again with a happy grin. Driver: “ Kab se kaam kar raha hain?” Boy: “Abhi nau saal ho gaya." This stunned me …salary from Rs.1500 to Rs.3000 working for 9 years ...i.e. 50% hike in 9 years! Keeping longer hours than most of us do, no luxury of working from home— an option that most of the employees of IT companies have, getting a dressing down if caught taking a break in between work unlike our frequent smoke/tea breaks where people gather in groups to gossip for prolonged periods. And here I was feeling so miserable at a growth which I think isn’t commensurate with my experience and keep getting frustrated. Somewhere in the mind the frustration becomes that little less meaningful now.