Prologue :
R. K. Narayan, one of the most renowned writer in the Indian history, once said, "In India, you only need to look outside your window to find a character and a story". This saying, and the man himself, has such an impact on what I write. True ain't it? Observe your surroundings and you are sure to hit on some story that is being hidden in it. It was only yesterday that my best friend was asking about my blog, scolding me for not writing anything in a long time since the first story. Well frankly, I had never got anything that I can write about, since my first post! May be I wasn't being as keen an observant as I should have been, or may be I was reluctant to write a monotonous story. It so happened that on a lazy Sunday morning, I sat in the balcony of my house looking out, at nothing in particular. The streets wore a deserted look, with the exception of odd hawkers and street vendors marching along the streets 'singing' the names of items being sold. This story is about one such vendor, the fruit seller. (inspired by a real incident which I witnessed today. The story is fictious and so are the characters).
It is not uncommon to find people coming near houses to sell fruits, vegetables, vessels and what not! Most of them traverse the same roads at exactly the same time everyday. The residents too get accustomed to it and some are even familiar with their names and about their families! Shiva was one such regular fruit seller. Despite being an educated man, he had no job and had to find some means of earning his living; selling fruits is what he chose. The man, in his late 30's, was quite known in the neighbourhood for his all time smiling face and his friendly attitude towards people. His was a routine work. Start early in the day, buy fruits from the market and sell them through the rest of the day. He profited anywhere between 200-400 rupees a day and would occasionally suffer loss. His was a small family including his wife and his child. They couldn't afford even a habitual house and all they had as a 'property' in the big city of Bengaluru was a small four walled, room-like structure with a thatched roof (The rest, I shall leave it for your understanding). And yet, he had no complaints. He was a firm believer of God and always used to say "If this is what He wishes for me, then am more than happy to accept it". May be that's why he was always smiling. On one hand, there are people for whose dreams and ambitions, the sky is the limit and on the other, there are people like Shiva, who live a life of content despite having nothing and yet, always smiling.
Strangely, it is people who lead such lives are the ones who get tested the most, Shiva too had to come face to face with such a test. In his regular monotonous days, there came a day that changed his life for the rest of it. It was a bright and sunny day and Shiva had had a brisk business, with half of his fruits nearly sold. Pushing his cart laden with assorted fruits, he stopped at a house, when a woman from the house signalled him to do so. A little girl ran up to him from inside the house, with her mother standing in the balcony. The lady shouted out the names of fruits that she wanted and after all the bargaining and purchasing, the little girl handed him a note, took the change and ran inside the home as quickly as she had come. Shiva pushed his cart and away. The lady on the other hand got engaged in animated talks with her neighbour and had spent nearly an hour in talking about how price raise was affecting, what is for lunch etc. etc.. It was only later when she came to the house, she took the money left after the purchase of fruits and found that she was short of Rs. 200. Her face turned red with anger on the fruit seller and started cursing him for cheating her. She then called her little daughter and scolded her for not collecting the change properly. "What mathematics do they teach you at school? Don't you know a simple subtraction? Can't you collect a simple change properly?" The girl bothered the least, it was hardly her mistake, she thought. She simply made a strange face and went away to play with her friends. However, her mother still seemed to be raging with anger. "That cheater ran away with my money! I should teach him a proper lesson! I always thought him to be a good man, but did not know that an evil was hidden beneath his smiling face!", she kept cursing him. Well, that's people's natural attitude; believe in what is more evident, than thinking of an alternate theory. (Of course, everybody cannot be Sherlock Holmes!)
Shiva, was totally unaware of what he had done. He gave the girl the change and flashed his trade mark smile and had left. It was at the end of the day, when he accounted for all his earnings of the day, he found that he had an extra money of Rs. 200. Where did it come from? He realised that he had gone wrong while calculating the change somewhere and hence, he had that money which wasn't his. He was deeply pained by what he had done. How could he go wrong? In all his days of being a fruit seller, he had never ever gone wrong. "What if people consider me a cheater now?" he was anguished by that thought. He immediately wanted to go back and return it to its rightful owner. But whose was it? He had no clue; he did not remember where he went wrong. Which meant, he had to go ask in all the houses that bought fruits from him in the day. Since he had had quite a long day (I told you, brisk business!) he would have to visit too many places and it was already night. He thought of going tomorrow and asking at all the houses, if he had given wrong change. Despite all the poorness, he never had a craving for money which wasn't his. I needn't tell you how tough it is to find such people in today's world and yet, there was the lady cursing him, for what seemed to be his fault. He felt ashamed of himself. When he told his wife about it, her eyes lit up in happiness, not at the fact that her husband wanted to return it, but at the fact that he had got an extra 200 rupees. "We can buy a new dress for our child with it Shiva, why return it when the God himself has given you that?". Shiva did not reply and looked at her grimly. She realised she had said the wrong thing. But what can she do, she was a mother and a mother's mind and heart always thinks about the child first and only then comes everything else! "She thought a moment and said, "You are right. This money isn't ours nor is it God's gift to us. Using this is as good as using a stolen money. Please return it tomorrow". She felt happy about her husband's honesty, giving her all the reason to love him more and felt sad at the same time, for she couldnt buy that new dress for her child.
That night, after dinner, Shiva slept still cursing himself for his mistake. He couldn't rest until he had found to whom the money belonged and returned it. He felt happy that his wife, had been a true companion. They might have lacked all the basic amenities, but there was no lacking for love and understanding between them. He felt proud of her and his thought wandered off to the fact that he wasnt able to buy her anything that she wanted; not that she desired, but he felt its his duty as a husband. Lost in his sea of thoughts, he looked at his wife and his child and smiled; both were long asleep. He closed his eyes, never to open again.
The next day, the woman who had lost her two hundred rupees, waited for Shiva to come. She was still very angry. She waited all day, but Shiva never arrived. "I knew he will never come this way again! He dare not! He is cheat and deserves to be doomed in hell" she grunted a mouthful for a man who breathed his last, repenting for a 'Mistake, by chance'.
R. K. Narayan, one of the most renowned writer in the Indian history, once said, "In India, you only need to look outside your window to find a character and a story". This saying, and the man himself, has such an impact on what I write. True ain't it? Observe your surroundings and you are sure to hit on some story that is being hidden in it. It was only yesterday that my best friend was asking about my blog, scolding me for not writing anything in a long time since the first story. Well frankly, I had never got anything that I can write about, since my first post! May be I wasn't being as keen an observant as I should have been, or may be I was reluctant to write a monotonous story. It so happened that on a lazy Sunday morning, I sat in the balcony of my house looking out, at nothing in particular. The streets wore a deserted look, with the exception of odd hawkers and street vendors marching along the streets 'singing' the names of items being sold. This story is about one such vendor, the fruit seller. (inspired by a real incident which I witnessed today. The story is fictious and so are the characters).
It is not uncommon to find people coming near houses to sell fruits, vegetables, vessels and what not! Most of them traverse the same roads at exactly the same time everyday. The residents too get accustomed to it and some are even familiar with their names and about their families! Shiva was one such regular fruit seller. Despite being an educated man, he had no job and had to find some means of earning his living; selling fruits is what he chose. The man, in his late 30's, was quite known in the neighbourhood for his all time smiling face and his friendly attitude towards people. His was a routine work. Start early in the day, buy fruits from the market and sell them through the rest of the day. He profited anywhere between 200-400 rupees a day and would occasionally suffer loss. His was a small family including his wife and his child. They couldn't afford even a habitual house and all they had as a 'property' in the big city of Bengaluru was a small four walled, room-like structure with a thatched roof (The rest, I shall leave it for your understanding). And yet, he had no complaints. He was a firm believer of God and always used to say "If this is what He wishes for me, then am more than happy to accept it". May be that's why he was always smiling. On one hand, there are people for whose dreams and ambitions, the sky is the limit and on the other, there are people like Shiva, who live a life of content despite having nothing and yet, always smiling.
Strangely, it is people who lead such lives are the ones who get tested the most, Shiva too had to come face to face with such a test. In his regular monotonous days, there came a day that changed his life for the rest of it. It was a bright and sunny day and Shiva had had a brisk business, with half of his fruits nearly sold. Pushing his cart laden with assorted fruits, he stopped at a house, when a woman from the house signalled him to do so. A little girl ran up to him from inside the house, with her mother standing in the balcony. The lady shouted out the names of fruits that she wanted and after all the bargaining and purchasing, the little girl handed him a note, took the change and ran inside the home as quickly as she had come. Shiva pushed his cart and away. The lady on the other hand got engaged in animated talks with her neighbour and had spent nearly an hour in talking about how price raise was affecting, what is for lunch etc. etc.. It was only later when she came to the house, she took the money left after the purchase of fruits and found that she was short of Rs. 200. Her face turned red with anger on the fruit seller and started cursing him for cheating her. She then called her little daughter and scolded her for not collecting the change properly. "What mathematics do they teach you at school? Don't you know a simple subtraction? Can't you collect a simple change properly?" The girl bothered the least, it was hardly her mistake, she thought. She simply made a strange face and went away to play with her friends. However, her mother still seemed to be raging with anger. "That cheater ran away with my money! I should teach him a proper lesson! I always thought him to be a good man, but did not know that an evil was hidden beneath his smiling face!", she kept cursing him. Well, that's people's natural attitude; believe in what is more evident, than thinking of an alternate theory. (Of course, everybody cannot be Sherlock Holmes!)
Shiva, was totally unaware of what he had done. He gave the girl the change and flashed his trade mark smile and had left. It was at the end of the day, when he accounted for all his earnings of the day, he found that he had an extra money of Rs. 200. Where did it come from? He realised that he had gone wrong while calculating the change somewhere and hence, he had that money which wasn't his. He was deeply pained by what he had done. How could he go wrong? In all his days of being a fruit seller, he had never ever gone wrong. "What if people consider me a cheater now?" he was anguished by that thought. He immediately wanted to go back and return it to its rightful owner. But whose was it? He had no clue; he did not remember where he went wrong. Which meant, he had to go ask in all the houses that bought fruits from him in the day. Since he had had quite a long day (I told you, brisk business!) he would have to visit too many places and it was already night. He thought of going tomorrow and asking at all the houses, if he had given wrong change. Despite all the poorness, he never had a craving for money which wasn't his. I needn't tell you how tough it is to find such people in today's world and yet, there was the lady cursing him, for what seemed to be his fault. He felt ashamed of himself. When he told his wife about it, her eyes lit up in happiness, not at the fact that her husband wanted to return it, but at the fact that he had got an extra 200 rupees. "We can buy a new dress for our child with it Shiva, why return it when the God himself has given you that?". Shiva did not reply and looked at her grimly. She realised she had said the wrong thing. But what can she do, she was a mother and a mother's mind and heart always thinks about the child first and only then comes everything else! "She thought a moment and said, "You are right. This money isn't ours nor is it God's gift to us. Using this is as good as using a stolen money. Please return it tomorrow". She felt happy about her husband's honesty, giving her all the reason to love him more and felt sad at the same time, for she couldnt buy that new dress for her child.
That night, after dinner, Shiva slept still cursing himself for his mistake. He couldn't rest until he had found to whom the money belonged and returned it. He felt happy that his wife, had been a true companion. They might have lacked all the basic amenities, but there was no lacking for love and understanding between them. He felt proud of her and his thought wandered off to the fact that he wasnt able to buy her anything that she wanted; not that she desired, but he felt its his duty as a husband. Lost in his sea of thoughts, he looked at his wife and his child and smiled; both were long asleep. He closed his eyes, never to open again.
The next day, the woman who had lost her two hundred rupees, waited for Shiva to come. She was still very angry. She waited all day, but Shiva never arrived. "I knew he will never come this way again! He dare not! He is cheat and deserves to be doomed in hell" she grunted a mouthful for a man who breathed his last, repenting for a 'Mistake, by chance'.
I really wonder whose fault it is. There is no right or wrong in life. There is always a GRAY. U must watch this Persian movie called "A Separation", written on similar lines. Very beautifully portrayed I must say. :)
ReplyDeleteYes, there can be no wrong or right. What is wrong for some person, might be right for some others! You really cant point a finger at one character, saying its his or her mistake. Because, each character was right in their thoughts and action, from their perspectives! :)
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