Delhiwale: An unmarried man

Glimpsing into a bachelor’s yearning

Only yesterday, it seems, he was in his 20s. Today he’s in his 40s. “Samay (time) passes quickly,” says rickshaw puller Vishwakarma Lal, during a leisurely chat lasting to almost half an hour, while he was waiting for passengers, this early evening near Gurugram’s bus stand.

Eldest among four siblings—he has sisters—Mr Lal found himself becoming their guardian when he was only a teenager, in his village in Mirzapur, UP

Tapping on his chest, he complains that “people think I must be having a wife and many sons, but I’m still unmarried.”

Eldest among four siblings—he has sisters—Mr Lal found himself becoming their guardian when he was only a teenager, in his village in Mirzapur, UP. Both his parents died in quick succession. “My father was a rickshaw walla in Allahabad.” Then, one day, the young Vishwakarma Lal migrated to that same city to follow his father’s footsteps. “My sisters had to move to our chachi’s (aunt’s) house in the village, and I would come home every month to give some money to chachi for the expenses.”

Over the years, he stayed a puller but changed cities, moving from Allahabad to Delhi, and from Delhi to Gurugram. “I wanted to work in Bambai.” Mr Lal reveals that almost all his earnings, until a few years ago, would be spent in raising his sisters and in arranging their weddings. He feels the absence of a brother; he might have shared the burden. “My plan was to marry after marrying off all my sisters.” They became so involved in their own families that they never looked for a wife for him, he says matter-of-factly.

Of course, Mr Lal knows so many rick pullers in the city who, like him, live alone, “but they have their wives and children in their villages.” He shares a rented hall near the bus stand with nine other pullers. At night, most of them lie on their respective bed talking to their families on mobile, or watching news/movies on the phone screen. Mr Lal, instead, settles down on the floor and performs pooja for at least one hour, “because prayer lightens my heart, and one day the Gods might help me find a wife.”

He now poses for a portrait but playfully covers his face “because I’m not wearing the mask, and that is not good.”