It is the call of duty that makes this tea-seller proud

Palanpur, Apr 12 (UNI) ''Chhay ho to Indar ki'' is a refrain one hears often in this town.

Give him a missed call and no sooner you will find him at your doorstep fetching hot, refreshing tea in his thermos. From bankers to babus and from businessmen to doctors, all are his regular customers. Rickshaw and taxi drivers and outsiders are not yet on the call list of his cellular phone. Yet, be it a bus stand, railway station or market place, Indar is omnipresent.

A commerce graduate, Indar could not complete his Master's degree despite his yearning for a PG degree. But today he hardly repents for missing higher studies. ''Even after MCom I never could have been so lucky to get a white-collared job. Why then waste time in thinking about something that would not have happened''? he says.

Fed up with prolonged periods of unemployment and attending several interviews, he was fast losing hope. He saw no silver lining to his gloomy future. Indar indeed was a broken man.

However, Lady Luck smiled on him when he woke up one fine morning. Picking up the newspaper, he was about to scan the vacancy column when his mobile phone rang. He heard an urgent voice say ''Send three tea quickly.'' Yes, it was a wrong number but it helped open new vistas in his life. He made up his mind that he would be supplying tea and make a living. This was some eight months ago and since then was no looking back for Indar, a second class graduate, who changed the course of his destiny by turning into a tea delivery boy.

The wrong number inspired me and gave hope of self-employment, he said. Soon he was contacting his friends and acquaintances asking for their co-operation in his new venture. It was no surprise as his business picked up and his determination won through. MORE UNI