Something to mark the day

It's been a month since I have got married. That should be ocassion enough to pen down something. But no, thats not what has prompted me to write after such a long time. Its something I saw on my way to classes which did.
The day did not kick off in the best possible way. I was not getting an auto and I probably looked too wealthy to all the auto drivers. None of them would move the auto without a promise of Rs.20 overthe meter. I kept cursing everyone under the sun and kept shaking my head resolutely. Finally the auto I got seemed to have its meter jacked up to the speed of Rajdhani. At a red signal, I was watching the meter with a hawk eye seeing it burn a big hole in my purse, when I noticed a family.
The husband who was following the wife and the son closely was dressed in a soiled dhoti. He had not shaved for a few days and was quite unkempt in his appearance. But there was a smile on his face which is rare to find. It was one of satisfaction, contentment. His wife who was walking a couple of steps ahead with the son was equally shabby in appearance. She had a small wicker basket in her hand, maybe something she carried to work. She was listening with rapt attention to her son. The son - he was dressed neatly in a lungi and a spotless white shirt. His face was clean and his hair was neatly combed. He was dumb - he couldn't speak. He was narrating some incident - maybe something that happened at school or near home to his parents. It was apparently something in which he had excelled. It might have been as minor or inconsequential as him playing with a bunch of kids and winning or something meaningful like he doing well in a class test. Irrespective of what it was, his parents understood him and were visibly proud of him.
For the 1st time since morning I felt a small smile cross my sulky face.
The signal turned green and we lurched ahead. My auto driver apparently though that he was in a F1 race. A few paces ahead I saw another auto. It was stuffed with school children - there are no other words to describe it the scene. There were at least 8-9 childern aged 5-9 in that auto. They were hanging on to their dear lives. Perching precariously and holding on to every last twig they could find it was as if these young ones were on a battle path and it was a question of their survival.
The smile that had just a few seconds back found my face just couldn't sit there anymore.
One one hand I had seen a family - well described as a BPL (Below Poverty Line) family which seemed content and even happy - if just for the moment. And then I saw the future of India, wards of middle class families hearded like cattle to an abattoir.
I don't know what to make of the incident - except for that one of them made me smile and one of them disgusted me to no end.