He sat on the lower rung of the stair case which spiraled up through different floors to the fifth one that happened to be the last floor of the building. An unusual feeling of heaviness overtook him on that day. He could not sleep properly in the previous night. All throughout the night he lied on his right side as he could not turn to the left due to the pain on his left arm. He stretched his legs down and was not in a mood to leave his seat due to the exhaustion that he felt. His equipment lied scattered on the ground and he was scared at the thought of picking them up and climbing upstairs. The building posed to be very high for him on that day which he never took more than five minutes to scurry to its top like a swift mouse to finish his work. He sat and looked at the next campus through the front gate and saw the sweeper had finished his work there and was pushing out the garbage in a wheelbarrow. He envied the sweeper when he saw him accomplishing his task by 8 a.m. and comparing himself with the latter let out the words with a sigh, “Lucky fellow”.
Complacent by nature, he never grumbled at the types of tasks he was assigned with, whatever they might be, during his duty hours on other days. He enjoyed working every day without availing any holiday except on Sunday. But on that day, a feeling of grief possessed him and that put him in his wife’s shoes to feel her pain that he thought he was instrumental in causing her a few days back. He remembered the day when his wife scowled and with swollen eyes after shedding profuse tears kept her mouth shut without any word for anyone for the whole day. That happened because he could not return home from his work on time and consequently missed attending the engagement ceremony of his brother-in-law. His wife actually insisted on his taking leave from his work on the day of the engagement ceremony so that they could attend the occasion. But he instead assured her that he would manage to finish his work on that day early and hence would be able attend the occasion. He remembered how his wife waited eagerly for the occasion since a long time before it approached as she thought that attending the occasion would give them a break from their tedious lives with some sorts of enjoyment after a long time as destiny was not generous enough to bestow them with lives providing resources enough to seek pleasures of different sorts frequently.
But on that day, his plan went contrary to the way it was actually devised. His plan was to finish his work early i.e. by 7 a.m. after working for two hours on that day. But once he got entangled into his work, there was no way left for him to come out of it soon and no one was also willing to let him go without making him accomplish each of their quotas of some additional work, which he often did for them free of cost. Hence, it was the usual time of 11:30 a.m. by which he finished all the cleanings and took about one hour to break through the traffic jam and reach home, which was actually fifteen minute’s distance from his work place. When he reached home, it was too late because the bus that they booked their tickets for to travel to attend the engagement ceremony had already left at 10:00 a.m. He remembered how his wife after a prolonged wait for him took out all the glass bangles that she wore and left the floor littered with their broken pieces. The red saree that she treasured as a valuable possession to wear on every special occasion was also lying crumpled on the floor. She took it out, with which she draped herself, and flung it on the floor angrily when he was late on that day. But the pain that struck his wife on that day could not touch him then because he actually nurtured no distraction from his work. It was his work that gave him pleasure and he never craved for any other enjoyment besides it. He forgot the hardships that life accrued upon him from time to time getting himself merged in his work. The day, when he could not attend the engagement ceremony, he reaped the satisfaction with the thought that he could at least complete his daily share of work. But sitting on the staircase on that day, he felt very bad to remember how he dashed to the ground his wife’s long cherished hope to attend her brother’s engagement ceremony. He felt bad for his wife then because he himself very badly needed a break from his work on that day.
He rued his lot that he was never in the habit of doing, as he sat on the staircase on that day. He compared himself with the sweeper of the next campus, who always finished his work at a fixed time and that also earlier than the time he took to complete his task. Both of them were paid equally but he had to do more than that he was paid for. He had to scrub each and every floor everyday leaving them spick and span so that no complain was darted against him from any of the occupants of the building. In the morning all the floors would remain messy with packets of garbage in front of every door on each of the floors which the occupants never bothered to carry downstairs to the bin. The cats would often add to his trouble tearing the packets open and leaving the floors spread with their contents. He had also to sweep the whole campus as well as clean the parking area single- handedly. Often on somebody’s request, he had also to do some of their personal work such as clean their bins and washrooms spending a lot of his time. But as he was always blessed with good health, working discharged some happiness for him and hence he never complained when he was bogged down by overwork.
As he was merged in his thoughts, he heard the streaming down of footsteps. There was a commotion as his presence was not noticed in the building at the usual time. When he was found sprawling on the staircase, a piercing female voice could be heard shooting out the words, “What are you doing here? Who is going to clean the building? See what a mess the cats have made pulling the packets of garbage on the floors. Are you drunk? Where did you spend your night, you lewd fellow? Couldn’t you sleep at night that you are lying here? Go and get up and start doing your work, it is already late”. The word, ‘lewd’ shredded his self respect that he felt would never get mended. He was hurt because he was not addicted to anything else than to his work that he adored wholeheartedly. Hearing the words, he dragged himself up on to his feet and raising his bloodshot eyes at the residents gathered there spitted out the words, “I took my COVID vaccine yesterday. I had fever last night. My body is aching and I am feeling woozy but I have pulled myself to the work. I never avail any leave from my work other than on Sundays but I need a break from my duty today to take rest that I know you are not going to grant me. That is why I am here. You get three days’ leave from your office to take rest after you are vaccinated. But you cannot be considerate to grant that to your sweeper. Cannot you take the packets of your garbage down to the bin for three days when your sweeper is on leave? You must be able to think that a sweeper also sometimes needs a break from his work. Go and clean your conscience first then I will clean your building”. His words pulled down the curtain of silence around and the assembly broke with trudging of feet towards their respective doors with heads down.
…………Dr. Fathema Begum
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