Chapter 2 : Rich By Heart (From Hello Strangers: A collection of short stories by Mukesh)

Chapter 2: Rich By Heart
(From Hello Strangers: A collection of short stories by Mukesh)

It was the first Saturday of February month. Clouds looked angry, thundering loudly. It looked like they were reminding lord Indra about rain. Lord Indra seemed too busy sleeping or in the dance of Apsara’s or maybe he took classes from Kumbhakaran and was doing the practice of that.

 My mind was creating a fictionist conversation between lord Indra and Kumbhakaran.

 

 “Udhar angadi me, 10 ka 5 aata” I heard somebody said loudly. Loud enough to bring me back to reality.

 I looked around, I found a group of guys were shouting at panipuri wala about overpricing.

 

 That group looked like, I had seen them somewhere. After thinking a couple of minutes. I learned that that group was the same who sat beside me at ‘Chai Point’ inside Meenakshi mall before some hours.

 I remembered clearly because one of those guys had difficulty in pronouncing cappuccino word while ordering.

 “Wow, they were willing to pay 100 bucks for a cappuccino, and here they are shouting at poor panipuri wala for just 5 bucks?” I murmured to myself.

 Well, who cares. It is the story of every day. Vitamin 'M’(money) is the most powerful.

 I was sitting at the roadside tea shop which is right outside of Meenakshi mall’s gate number 3.

 I was having my tea and scribbling something in my diary at the same time. 

 

 As I was a travel freak, I loved traveling but only inside the city. Obviously, I was running out of Vitamin 'M’.

 I finished my tea and kept my diary and pen inside my handbag. I settled the bill and was about to leave for the bus stop to board the bus. 

 The noise of horns took my attention and made me look at another side of the road.

 I could see, one brand new Duster car stopped. A young guy with short hair probably army hairstyle wearing a tight black T-shirt. Muscles were dying to come out from his T-shirt by tearing the T-shirt. A fit guy, his look and attire were as if he was a celebrity.

 

 The car had black glasses; I couldn’t see who else was there inside the car. He didn’t even take a minute to cross a busy road. 

 So many people were staring at him so was I. He came to the same shop where I was standing.

 “He will buy one pack of king cigarettes” I murmured to myself. I stood there and waiting for my prediction to come true.

 In no time, I found that guy talking with the shopkeeper.

 The shopkeeper was an old woman. She was very kind and friendly. I knew her well because I was a frequent visitor to this shop. 

 That guy was struggling hard to speak Kannada language. His pronunciation sounded funny to me, but his try deserved praise.  

 Shopkeeper aunty took no time to learn the difficulty of that guy and started speaking her best of Hindi.

 

 I was shocked when that guy inquired about the price of a banana. I felt a bit odd, a rich guy shopping thing like this.

 He looked at the gate of the mall and

 “5 aur dedo,” He said.

 I didn’t know why, but I had an urge to find out what he was up to. So, I decided to wait there. I kept an eye on him without staring at him. 

 I ordered one more tea and sat down there again and kept noticing him. he took bananas and crossed the road, but he didn’t go to his car, instead, he walked a bit ahead right in front of the mall. 

 There was a tree. I could see an old lady in her 70’s sitting under the tree. She wore old toned saree, her face had winkles and her head was covered by handkerchief maybe to avoid cold. She was glancing visitors of the mall. 

 I could see, a couple of visitors, holding shopping bags on their hands, they looked at her, but nobody offered anything to her except one little boy who offered some coins to her and that little boy tried talking to her but interrupted.

 “Rohan, come here fast,” Said one woman maybe little boy’s mom loudly.

 That duster guy was in front of her. He gave her bananas and touched her feet. He was talking something to her, but his voice was not auditable to me as I was another side of the road.

 This initiative of him, made me feel ashamed of myself. I was wasting money on expensive cappuccino rather than helping helpless people like her.

 I wondered, how I didn’t notice that lady. Even though, I visited this Mall frequently. I felt like saluting him. After having his conversation with her, he walked towards his car. He took out one bottle of water and gave it to her.

 

 I was thinking to talk with him. While I was busy thinking. In no time, he was out of sight. 

 

 So far in my life, I haven’t seen a rich person like him. Perfect example of A rich guy with a rich heart. So-called rich people, visits mall, buys unwanted things. When it comes to helping helpless, all they look for is coins.

 

 From that day, whenever I visited that mall, I never missed to visit that old lady. 

 One thing about that lady, she never begs. If you give her one rupee or a thousand rupees, you will get the same smile and same blessing.

Read Chapter 1: Shadiq Bhai from 'Hello Stranger : Collection of short stories by Mukesh' Series