The cycle bell that Rajesh would ring gathered 20 odd schools kids outside the Primary School.
”Buddi ke baal “, the kids would refer the eatable that Rajesh sold. Primarily cause it appeared to be bunch of old lady’s hair, and secondarily, they did not know if it has any other name as such !
At 5 bucks a packet, Rajesh managed to sell 30 odd in an hour of time.
His day started on a usual note just the way it does on every other morning. He worked on the machine that made the spun sugar. He then packed a bunch of spun sugar, usually pink, carefully into polythene. The school was quite near to his home; hence 50 odd samples would suffice for the morning. He can very well
return after the classes start and prepare another 100 for the lunch break. He would have a 50 of them kept aside.
He however waited for someone anxiously at the gate. A kid it was, that would buy most of them. It was 5 past 10 already and the a view from the gate indicated the classes began , yet there was no sign of this boy.
“Is he not coming ?, should I wait or go !“ , Rajesh thought as he kept staring at the right turn at the end of road , from where the boy usually came.
It was almost a year ago that they met. That morning Rajesh was at the school gate with his spun packets. He managed to sell very little that morning. it was a cloudy and it started to rain eventually.
Rajesh tried moving his bicycle to look for shelter, but the vehicle refused to move cause of the chain that stuck the wheel from moving. By the time he could free the wheel from the chains grip, the rain had his packets drenched and what was left behind was the sticky liquid dropping out of the packets.
There were enough packets that would add up to a KG or Two of sugar. That meant a huge loss compared to the little profit he made. A loss implied a night without dinner for his family.
He sat by the footpath. Few tear drops escaped his eyes out of sorrow. A night of suffering is all it counted.
Moments later, there came and stopped a car, a black one. It had an amazing glitter all over its body. At the front was a still circle with a inverted Y, Rajesh observed. He was too depressed to think what on earth it stopped in from of him.
A boy of around 12 or 14 years of age got down out of the vehicle and walked straight to him.
“What makes you cry!”, commanded the boy with a tone of authority rich men are adorned with.
Without a word Rajesh showed the packets hanging from the stick, most of which were soaked in water.
“Get me a 50 of these in the afternoon- I will buy them at 6 bucks each….” saying thus the boy turned and walked to the car. The driver of the vehicle had already opened the door for the boy to get in, however the boy stopped and turned to Rajesh.
“I want every one of them, miss the count and you will miss all the bucks…” and moments later the car zoomed past him into the school.
Rajesh did not get why the boy wanted to buy so many of them and that too at a price higher that what he usually sold at.He was excited and thought no more, rose to his feet, got hold of the bicycle and stated home. On his way back the same car overtook him with a lightning speed.
Rajesh hurried back from home with the number of packets the boy told him, to be on the safer side he carried some additional numbers....."miss the count and you will miss all the bucks…" he remembered
He was surprised to find the boy at the spot they met, minus the car with the inverted Y in the metal circle.
“You are late. Anyway. Did you get 50 of them? “, the boy questioned with almost a similar tone.
“Yes I did!”
“Count them!”, he ordered, “fast!”, not paying much attention to Rajesh’s panting.
Rajesh parked the bicycle and counted the packets.
“Faster!” the boy got impatient at the speed with which Rajesh counted.
“Forty, forty one, …… “,
“Enough! Take this and give those to Me.”, he handed 300 bucks. Before Rajesh could react, he grabbed the stick removed the extra packets and hung them to the bicycle and gone he was.
Rajesh, though happy, could not really figure out what one earth the boy was going to do with them. “Might be his birthday!” he thought to himself as he started the ride back.
It was after a long time he was happy.
The other day, the boy came to where Rajesh parked his bicycle. Paid him 300 and took 50 packets.
“Can I know what the occasion today is?” Rajesh questioned curiously.
“None of your bloody business okhaii!” answered the boy aggressively.
The next day the boy came, he bought the same quantity and left.
And this continued to almost a year, Rajesh never questioned the boy there after.All he would do was to keep 50 packets and sometimes a 100, aside without selling even if he ran out of general stock. He would wait for the boy and the boy never missed to buy.
One day the boy did not come, nor did he turned up the next day. And the next and the next. Days passed.
He did not come even today.
Rajesh was anxious why the boy did not turn up. He walked into the school to enquire. It was after long time that he stepped inside that school again. The one which use to be his until that unfortunate event.
He was unsure whom to ask.
“Rajesh!” he heard someone calling.
“You are looking for Sidharth, if am not wrong?” a lady questioned as he she neared him.
“…I ??”,
“The boy who bought sugar spun from you!”
“How did you know that?”
“Well, Sidharth told me you will come looking for him when he is gone. So you stated going to school with you savings I learnt?”
“Who told you that now?”
“Why do you think he would buy 100 of them on the month ends?”
“…..”, indeed , Rajesh thought to himself. The boy would buy double the quantity, and that too one or two days prior to the end of month.
“Where is he now?” Rajesh questioned the lady.
What the lady told in return was something unbelievable. With a heavy heart Rajesh walked by the school compound.
“Why should it happen to him!”, it was heartbreaking to hear that. “it’s unfair God” he shouted skywards in sorrow.
Rajesh sat on the bridge over the canal on the banks of which the school stood. It was almost a year and a half that his father expired. Unable to pay the fee, he continued his father profession. Little he made to feed himself and his mother. But after he met the boy he made extra bucks. He saved some to go to school.
Now the world seemed to at standstill but for the steam of water that was flowing with a rhythmic sound.
A pile of packets by the wall captured his attention.
A pile of packets, partially pink in color........
