I just woke with the sound of a fellow, who was trying to get me out of his purse and an auto rickshaw driver. I was in the middle of my elder brother (20Rs) and younger (5rs). I was sure that I am going away from the temporary family.
The fellow holding me was shouting something like” why do you want money more than meter??....etc”. Ricky replied to him with a clumsy smile “ chai….pani…sir, its 0200 am in the morning”. This guy also replied that he was an call center employee and he works late in the night without chai pani. I then realized what the time was and how handy I was in that situation. With a lot of hesitation I was transferred to the khaki shirt of the auto rickshaw driver.
A few minutes after that I heard him start the auto and murmuring with some ____ ____ ___ words for the call center fellow. I thought of continuing my sleep but was lost in the interaction with my new relatives. We heard a sound outside, there seemed to be a new passenger in the auto. While others were playing around, I tried hard hearing the conversation with the new passenger. Ricky “where do you want to go sir????” a middle aged family man’s voice was heard the other end, who just said “Railway station”.
On hearing that, I was so happy after a long time, because I had never been to a railway station. I always wanted to roam around places or atleast to the states whose languages are printed on me. If I am lucky enough I may be out of the ricky’s pocket and move with the new passenger. Waiting for that one moment, I started dreaming about the places, am I going to Mumbai, Delhi or Chennai?
Time now is 0330hrs, the radio jockey was trying to keep all of us awake with some nice songs and some chit chats. We reached the railway station and with the passenger even I got ready praying for my luck.
I think at that early hour, even god was sleeping and forgot to hear my prayers. I was still inside ricky’s pocket. We had some new relatives, and the passenger gave the ricky exact change and rushed into the railway station. All my dreams are now shattered. My grandfather (100Rs) then told me, “son we are made to satisfy others dreams. Whether small or big we are there to only satisfy them. In turn we don’t have any rest or we are not supposed to dream about anything. For example see your younger brother”, pointing a wounded 5rupee who was covered fully with tape, he continued “he is still alive with those bandages, but his value has never gone own”. Grandpa continued to say some more things, which I voluntarily decide to ignore.
While I was still sad about my adventure, which didn’t even start at this moment, I was pulled out from the ricky’s pocket and was placed in a saucer. It was a road side tea shop and ricky had put me in that saucer to pay for his tea. The shop owner picked me up and put me inside a rusted steel box.
I couldn’t find any of my older generation in that box; I was one among the oldest fellows inside that noisy tin. Rests of the guys were totally different species. I have heard about these people from my other relatives, but for the first time I am seeing these much noisy people with a rigid body built with steel. They were called as the COINS………………………….To be continued………
Sunday, December 13, 2009
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