Write an essay on a shoe shine boy
Answers
Explanation:
As for my job with the railway, I have to work all day and the pay isn’t high either, VND2 million a month. On weekdays, I start at 8am and finish at 4pm. Afterwards, I make time to go shine shoes for another two or three hours. When I see a potential customer, I just invite them to get their shoes shined. In general, rich people want their shoes shined more often. When I shine a pair of shoes, I give the customer these plastic flip-flops to wear while I’m shining. Beside dress shoes, I can also polish
athletic shoes with water and soap. I charge VND7,000 for each pair of shoes. Normally, I polish shoes for Vietnamese people. If I offer the service to Westerners and they accept, then I’ll do it. If they don’t want it, then I move on. There are a lot of shoe shiners who will beg Westerners, even try to take their shoes off for them, but that’s not how I do it, I won’t beg. Most of my customers are regular customers. I like regular customers because while I’m shining their shoes we can joke around a little.
Room to Walk
The hard part about this job is always having to walk around to find customers. That’s when you can get caught by the cops. Several years ago, the cops started trying to catch shoe shiners. And if they caught us, it wasn’t just to fine us, they put us in jail. For the first offense, we’d get 15 days in Dam Dau jail in Dong Anh. The second offense was three months at Ba Vi. The third offense was six months, and so on. In Dam Dau jail they didn’t make me do much, they just locked me up. But in Ba Vi, they say the inmates have to tend cows and stuff. Luckily, I’ve only been to Dam Dau. [Laughs]
When I first started shining shoes, we used to carry our polish and brushes around in a special wooden box. But ever since the cops cracked down, we’ve had to disguise ourselves. We put our gear in shopping baskets or plastic bags. But at least these days the cops don’t chase us like they did a few years ago. Now it’s only when they get a special order that they come after us. I don’t know why they target shoe shiners. The only thing I know is that they get the order from higher up. Maybe they think we’re homeless people and we’re bad for the city’s image. Hanoi has changed a lot since I started working here 10 years ago. The streets used to have more room to walk, but these days there are so many cars and motorbikes, it’s very cramped now. Back in the day, shoe shiners would have their own turf, and each one just worked their own area. But by the time I started working in Hanoi, the system had already broken down.
When I first started, there was a lot of competition, but not anymore. Now there aren’t many shoe shiners left in Hanoi. Us ones that are left, we avoid each other. If I see there’s already a shoe shiner at a café, I won’t go in. In general, I love the sense of freedom this job gives me. I don’t like the feeling of being tied down. For example, I wouldn’t want to be a security guard because it would force me to sit still all day. But then sometimes I look at people with stable jobs, and then I look at myself, just wandering around aimlessly my whole life. Then I pity myself. I have no idea about the future of this job. My friends don’t even do this job anymore. As for me, for now I’ll just keep on doing what I’m doing. If I could choose another job in the future, I’d want to be a taxi driver because it’s easier to earn money. I’ve got some friends who’ve become taxi drivers. I’d like to learn to drive, but I can’t afford to pay for the lessons. Mainly, though, I have to think about the future of my little girl. I have to find a way to put her through school so she can have a higher education than I got. We can’t have her end up just wandering around endlessly like her father. [Laughs]
Additional editing by Gerard Sasge. It’s a Living: Work and Life in Vietnam Today is available in paperback on Amazon or as an e-book on iTunes
Interviewed by Le Phuong Linh, Peter Le, Do Dang Tien, Chieu-An Ton Nu
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Answer:
Just then, the cell phone buzzed. It was the man’s phone. He grimaced as he saw the number. Nevertheless, he answered the call.
“I am outside VT station. Are you coming here or should I meet you at Bandra?” he asked the caller.
“Okay, Hina will bring the parcel to Bandra near the Talao, and I will meet you there,” he continued talking after hearing the answer of the unknown caller.
Apparently, the other person had called him to Bandra.
Hari had not finished polishing the man’s second shoe, but he handed him a twenty rupee note and without waiting for the change, rushed away into the station.
Hari was sure that there was something odd about the man’s behavior.
‘And who was Hina? Was she the woman in the car to whom he had given the child?’
Hari was in a dilemma. Should he report this to the police? What if they did not believe him? And what if the whole incident had been an absolutely normal family routine? He would be reprimanded for wasting the Cop’s time.
But somehow the incident was playing on his mind. He had a gut feeling that something was not right. He decided to report the matter and if proved wrong, face the consequences. Not wanting to waste time in answering inconsequential questions on the phone, he went personally to the police station which was just a few meters away.
The Police Inspector did not give credence to his report, just as he had feared. He even shouted at him for coming with ridiculous complaints. He knew that Hari was a shoe-shine boy, as he got his shoes polished often enough without paying for it. Hari realized that it was futile to explain to him his gut feeling, and he left.
When he sat once again at his place outside the VT station, there were two people waiting for him. He got engrossed in his work, reminding himself that only by working through the day could he pay his fees for the evening college in which he had enrolled himself.
Within a few minutes though, a police van drew up in front of him. The police inspector got out from the van and rushed towards him. His hands were trembling. He was distraught.
“Boy,” he called. “You said that you had seen a child being forcefully pushed into the arms of a woman in a car.”
“Yes Sir,” answered Hari. “But you didn’t believe me.”
“Sorry, boy,” said the cop apologetically. “I made a mistake. You said that you noted the car’s number?”
“Yes Sir. It is 2968,” replied Hari. “What happened, Sir?”
“My son is missing since today afternoon,” the Inspector was almost in tears. “Do you have any further information?”
“Sir,” replied Hari. “The man said that someone called Hina would deliver the parcel at Bandra talao. Could the parcel mean the child, by any chance?”
“It could be,” said the Inspector. The other cops who were with him tried to pacify the Inspector.
Hari willingly agreed to accompany them as he could recognize the man. He also cautioned them that if the police van was seen, the culprits would not hang around. They would vanish into thin air and escape.
The inspector agreed with him. He and another plain clothes officer went along with Hari in an ordinary car. When they reached Bandra talao, Hari’s eyes were searching for the bearded man. He found him standing near a café on the opposite side of the talao. He pointed him out to the officer. The officer got down from the car and walked nonchalantly to the café without giving a glance to the man.
The inspector and Hari were still sitting in the car waiting for the woman or the other caller to arrive. Within a few minutes, a couple approached the man. They were talking animatedly for a few seconds, before a black car drew up. A woman got down. There was a child sleeping on her shoulder. Hari looked at the Inspector. The relief on seeing his child alive was written on his face. The officer in plain clothes came over and caught hold of the woman. He grabbed the child from her arms. The Inspector who had got down from the car by then ran to catch hold of the bearded man. The couple, who were stunned by the enfolding situation, suddenly came to their senses and ran away. But Hari had caught them on his mobile phone camera. By then the police van which had been parked out of sight in a by-lane arrived. The bearded man and the woman were bundled into the van and taken to the police station.
Hari was happy to see that the child was fully awake and in his father’s arms. Excited, relieved and thankful that he had been part of the rescue of the child, Hari went to catch the train to VT from Bandra station and reached his shoe-shine stand.
Before evening, the Inspector along with his wife and child came over to his stand and thanked him profusely for his help in rescuing the child. The Inspector further offered to pay for his entire education, and asked Hari to apply for a job in the police force.