Chinmoy sat there looking at the sea, the cool sea breeze blasting his face.
He took in a deep breath. The wind is a little strong. It might rain he thought. The sea looked murky as dark clouds gathered above and big waves crashed at the shore. He loved coming to the beach every evening after work. It soothed him after the endless data crunching and the long client meets. He mostly came alone to just sit and observe; the sea, the people, the multitude emotions and the random activities.
He could see an old couple sitting together sharing a joke over a plate of bhel a little distance away from him. A boy was selling balloons to the kids who were gathered around him. He saw street urchins running behind the mobile ice cream van, the vendors selling various street food ,the elderly taking their evening strolls and people like him rushing back home.There was nothing unusual or interesting, but he was enjoying the humdrum.
It was then a little girl ran up to him and begged for some money, "saabji kuch paise de do, khana hai". Chinmoy absentmindedly took out a five rupee coin from his pocket and handed it over to her and looked the other way. He found it very awkward when kids came to him begging. He somehow felt guilty.
Some five minutes later he found the beggar girl coming his way, this time accompanied by another girl.The new girl was older and must have been about twelve or thirteen years while the younger one seemed to have been about eight. Both of them walked up to him. The younger one looked lost and sorry, and the elder one looked cross. They were sisters.The older girl asked the younger one to return the coin but the kid hesitated.
The older girl then slapped her sister and took the coin from her hands and handed it back to him. "Saabji maaf karna, par hum bhikhari nahi hain." (Sorry sir, but we aren't beggars) They then turned and walked away.
Chinmoy was taken aback by the suddenness of it all and couldn't react. But more, he was impressed by the small girl's self respect and honesty.He kept observing them. They went to the nearby traffic signal. The elder girl pacified the younger one. She took out some lemons, chilies and strands of copper wire from her bag and started weaving them into amulets. While the little one waited at the side sobbing, the elder girl took to the streets selling those amulets as a good luck charm to the cars. She sold each for five rupees and by the end of an hour she had sold some nine to ten of those charms.
She then bought ice creams from the mobile van for both of them and then both the kids happily licked away the ice lollies.There was a smile on his face and a warmth flooded his heart.
He got up and walked to them to get his amulet.
P.S. : At times one needs to revisit places as memories are tagged along with. Indu thanks a lot for drafting it so beautifully! A Long time ago though :)
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