The Young Fruit-seller
One
fine morning, in the early 17th century, a young boy woke up in his
home in Africa, just to find that large bulky men with guns were about to take
away his parents. He knew that this was the concept of slavery and so; he was
determined to let his parents live their lives peacefully. He rushed out to the
balcony and called out, “Let my parents go, let my parents go. I will come and
work for you, but please, oh, please let my father and mother stay here!” The
slave owners, upon hearing the cries of the boy, agreed that a young boy would
work quicker and more efficiently than an aged father and mother. They called
out to the boy, “ Come here quickly, son, and then we will free your precious
father and mother”. The boy, upon hearing this, secretly rejoiced, and then
went to the disciplinarian.
Soon,
the ship on which the brutes had taken him stopped at their destination, India.
This was a completely new world to the young boy, and he was already feeling
homesick. First of all, animals like
buffalos, bulls, and cows were everywhere, which the boy, Jaffa, thought were
the most dangerous creatures that existed. The next day, Jaffa was sold to the
PMM Industries’ fruit selling branch. There, he was forced to work as a fruit-seller
in the decalescent temperature of the day. His working hours were from 4
o’clock a.m. to 11 o’clock p.m. The worst part of all of this torture was the
discrimination he faced. After his long working day, he would go to the bus
station to catch a bus back to his master’s home. However, the bus driver and
conductor, who were very strict followers of the caste system, would not allow
Jaffa onto the bus as he was just a slave and was not worthy of sitting with
the higher class people (As we all know, India in the old times was a very
strict believer of the caste system). He was forced to take the long walk home.
At the house, he was completely out casted by the other servants who would
tease him because of his caste, slave, which was one below servants. He felt
very piqued at the thought that other servants, who were local Indians, would
get paid for their labor, while he, an African, would not.
After
a few years in slavery, Jaffa decided to figure out a way to fight back against
slavery. He planned a boycott with other African slaves who were working with
or around him and decided not to work unless a proper pay was given to him.
Soon, all the slaves of the PMM Industries were boycotting against the
management. The head manager of the factory, Mufti, was getting agitated as the
work was not being done, and the money was not rolling in before his eyes. The
slave masters knew they had to solve this problem, or the management would fire
them as well. The masters would not give in to paying the slaves so easily.
They beat them hard with whips and threatened to kill them with daggers if they
did not work. Jaffa, was whipped the most, and charged for bringing accusations
against slavery into the minds of the fellow slaves. He was excused from his
duties, but he was still kept prisoner in custody of the PMM Industries.
However, the news of the boycotting of the slaves got to the president and
founder of PMM, Motta. Motta was an opposer of slavery and never really
supported the idea. However, he had allowed slavery on one condition, that all
of them would be paid.
As
soon as he found out about, he himself went, and fired all of the employees
from the management, paid the slaves, and freed them to go back to their home
countries.
Jaffa
had now first-handedly experienced slavery for 5 years, and he was glad he
could help his friends in becoming free men once again.