One can learn something from everyone. The lessons are available all around us. We just have to be sensitive and observe things and absorb them. Every person can teach us something which will help us in our lives. The best part is that these lessons are free and precious.
An old man who runs a small tea shop on the route from Dehra Dun to Mussoorie taught me a valuable lesson. Even when I was a child, the family used to visit this chai-pakora shop located at the toll tax point (Kolhu Khet) midway between Doon and Mussoorie. Over the last 10 years, I have been going up to the hill station on my own for assignments.
On one such occasion, I had ample time and waited for him to begin his work after arriving from his home in Rajpur. It was around 11 am, perfect time for tea. I saw him settling down and then putting things in order. It was obvious how much he loved his work of making and providing tea and snacks to travellers who stopped here on their way up to the hills. The way in which he boiled the milk and then set down to chopping onions,potatoes and other vegetables for pakoras showed that he believed in doing everything in an impeccable manner. I began a conversation with him as we had got to know each other well by this time and he had already told me many a tale related to the villages around this place during my previous visits to the shop.
He told me how earlier, people enjoyed his snacks much more than they do now. They savoured the chooran and aam papad available at his shop. They made special requests for nimbu paani with kaala namak if they suffered from mountain sickness. Now people pack fast food from Dehra Dun and carry bottled soft drinks with them in their vehicles. The Kolhu Khet point, which we all used to look forward to as a mini picnic, no longer holds that fascination for the tourists. However, his pakoras are still quite popular and people have them fresh and hot, also packing some for the road.
The pakoras are special and so is the chutney with which he serves them. There is a secret ingredient in it, which makes it amazing. He admits that he has never shared his recipe for the pakoras and the chutney with anyone, not even his wife! His aged hands still work very deftly as he caters to the orders for elaichi tea and plates of mixed pakoras. All the while, he keeps sharing some stories of the good old days when people used to come specially up to Kolhu Khet from the Doon valley to enjoy a cup of tea at his little shop. Those were days of leisure and slow-paced life for Doonites. The days where there was no Internet and no mobiles.
I remember how suddenly, on a cloudy day, a friend or a cousin would get up and say, “Come on, let us all go to toll point for tea!” and we would all get into the car or Jeep and be off to Amirchand Sharma’s pakora shop! Yes, that is the old man’s name.Once he laughed at the irony of being called Amirchand when he had never been rich in his life. However, I felt the name suited him as he was a king at heart, doing what he loved to do and doing it to perfection. He has never been any man’s slave, running the little shop as if it is his kingdom. He is richer than many moneyed people I know.
In one of my books, I mentioned him and his shop. Some people told him that and when I met him next, he gave me a treat of paneer pakoras! Simple as a child, Sharmaji has created a little world in Kolhu Khet, which he shares with anyone who is willing to be part of it. Neighbouring shopkeepers often drop in to discuss the news of the day — both from newspapers as well as from the neighbourhood. The shop is a good meeting point with excellent tea and snacks. Sitting there, one can forget about the rest of the world easily and be lost in the tranquility of the surroundings. Sharmaji’s hands no longer work as before; his eyes are dimmer. But his spirit is the same. Bright and bold.