Essays

Atul is my next-door neighbour We live in a neighbourhood comprising people of different regions and cultures. Most of my neighbours are from the lower income groups and as such all of them work hard for a living. There are rubber tappers, labourers, clerks, fishmongers, doctors and contractors. Some are unemployed. Nevertheless, we live in harmony and we help each other out whenever we can.

Of all these hard-working people, there is none who can match Atul He is a person with boundless energy and possesses a single-minded drive. By looking at a typical day in his life we can get an idea about his work-load.

Atul gets up at three in the morning. I can hear him getting ready to leave the house because the thin wooden wall that separates our houses does not prevent sound from passing through, I know he goes straight to the fish market to select the fishes and marine products that he will sell later in the day. He is a fishmonger and he bemoans the fact that he is still a retailer. He wishes to be a wholeseller because as he once said, then he can earn more money. I do not doubt that he will realize his ambition one day.

All through the morning and a little part of the afternoon, Atul lells fish at his stall in the market. I have, on an occasion, visited him and I found that he sells the largest amount of fish. His stall is always crowded with buyers for he stocks the largest selection of fish. Coupled with a smooth tongue and an ever smiling face, it is no wonder that he attracts these buyers. He has a natural charm that seems to have a hypnotic effect on the buyers to buy more. This I have seen with my own eyes; a person coming to buy a single fish ends up buying shrimps as well. Such is his charm.

By two o'clock in the afternoon, Atul closes his stall, while the other fishmongers have to stay on because they have not finished selling their fishes yet. Atul heads straight for home where he takes a quick lunch. I often meet him when I come home from school. His clothes are all filthy and he smells terrible, but after a bath and a change of clothes, he emerges from his house a completely transformed person. One would never guess that he is a fishmonger.

This change is necessary, for Atul is now a salesman, representing a large direct-selling organization. For the rest of the afternoon, he make his rounds on his battered old scooter- He sells washing powder, shampoo and all kinds of home-products. We often buy a few things from him- In fact, the whole neighbourhood is his sales domain. Everybody knows him because his service is excellent. Whenever we want something, all we have to do is to tell him and we will not have to wait very long before he delivers the goods. In addition to the prompt service, he is very flexible when it comes to payment. Though he is flexible, his business is thriving for he has the knack of getting his dues from his customers, I suppose it is his great charm and persuasive power that does the trick. Nobody owes him a lot.

It is dark when he returns to his house. We would all either be watching TV or relaxing when we hear his scooter screeching to a halt outside his house. Next, and unfailingly, his stereo set would come alive with his favourite songs. I wonder how an evening would feel like without hearing these all too familiar songs, played at a hardly tolerable volume.

It is a wonder to see a human being working at such an accelerated rate. How long can he go on this way? How does his wife and children react to his constant absence, even during holidays and weekends? I only hope that Atul does not overtax himself and ends up in hospital one day. In my opinion, he works the hardest. Every man has a limit. Atul has to realize, he has too.