Hightail

The uncomfortable heat of the summer challenged a two 13 year old boy
in their school uniforms. They were on their way to their homes.

Biren and Nirvan lived in the same neighbourhood, their families have
moved to the area around four years back. They studied in two
different schools which were on the same route, thus they walked to
school and back home together.

Nirvan took out his sipper from the bottle holder of his school bag
only to face what he already knew, the sipper was empty, but ‘how
empty?’ was the question. Wouldn’t the minuscule drops of remaining
water merge together to form a sip? No, they wouldn’t. All that came
out of the sipper’s mouth were two drops, the second considerably
smaller than the first.

Biren stood patiently watching Nirvan’s unsuccessful attempt to
scavenge something out of the sipper.

“You know, you made it worse. Now, that you have tasted those few
drops, you will crave for water even more,” said Biren.

Nirvan stared at Biren, “…and I suppose your words will make it any better.”

“Nirvan, check how much money you have? I will check in my bag as well.”

Both of them collected all the coins they could find in the pockets of
the bag, Nirvan found a coin and Bren found four. The total barely
matched the cost of a bottle of water.

“Well, we cannot blame our parents for it when most of our pocket
money is spent in game arcade,” said Biren trying to explain the cause
of their misery.

“Let’s head to the grocery store near the flower shop. He knows us,
right? We will promise him to return the rest of money at the
soonest,” suggested Nirvan.

“That would have been a good idea if he didn’t know our parents as
well. I am sure he will let them know how we couldn’t pay the whole
amount for a bottle of water and then we will be questioned for the
lack of money since we are given the money for such situations in the
first place.”

“Then let’s go to the store behind your school, we might have to walk
back some distance but it will be worth it, we will have water.”

Nirvan and Biren looked back at the path they had to walk back on. A
path which the sun heated to its heart’s content and they started
getting the feeling that it might not be such a delightful idea after
all.

“We will just tell our parents that we spent the money in buying water
almost every day, it just might work,” suggested Biren.

“Yeah… it might work let’s do that then. Let’s head to our known
grocery store then,” responded Nirvan.

Thus, the two boys continued their walk of struggle, this time towards
the grocery store. They reached the store but they found that the
store owner was not present, someone else completely unknown was
present in the store that day.

The young man Ashok, stared down at the two boys in uniform, he
noticed the sweat and the tiredness.

“What would you like? A bottle of juice, milkshake or any other soft
drink?” Ashok asked, “that is if you can pay for them”.

The boys glanced at each other and then Biren spoke.

“Who are you? Where is Mr Bhatnagar, the store owner?”

“Not that it should be any of your business, but Mr Bhatnagar has
opened another store and so he has hired me to manage here,” replied
Ashok.

Nirvan couldn’t hold the thirst anymore, especially now when there was
a glass refrigerator full of bottles of water right in front of his
eyes.

“We want a bottle of water. The 1 litre bottle”

Ashok left and came back with a bottle of water and Biren handed him the coins.

Ashok counted the money, “This won’t cover the cost. You both can’t
even counting money or what?”

“You see, we will give the rest later,” Nirvan said, eying the bottle of water.

“But I don’t know whether you will give the rest later or not. I don’t
know you both and you both look like you came here with a plan to do
this and get away,” replied Ashok.

Biren intervened, “It is a very small amount. I don’t think it should
be a problem whether you can trust us or not.”

“What do you mean by a small amount? Don’t tell me you expect me to pay
for it if you both don’t show up. Is that what they teach you at the
school you go to, or maybe you both are one of those less hardworking
backbenchers.”

Anger had slowly begun to rise in Biren’s mind, ‘Is he intentionally
trying to bully us since we are kids?’ he thought.

“What is wrong with you? You earn, don’t you? then why are you
behaving like we are asking you to wait for a big amount to be paid.
We live nearby, we will pay you the rest today itself,” said Biren.

“What is wrong with me? You both are not paying the whole amount for
this bottle of water and something is wrong with me? I know kids like
you who fool people and never return the remaining amount. I will not
fall for it.” Ashok spoke as his gaze narrowed over Biren.

Nirvan tried his type of reasoning, “You can call Mr Bhatnagar and ask
about us, he knows us. There will not be a problem.”

“So, you want me to do this so that Mr Bhatnagar thinks I am incapable
of handling two kids and throws me out of the position? Kids nowadays,
I am surprised at the extent they might go to get things down their
way.”

‘Unbelievable! This guy is out of his mind Biren thought.

Nirvan turned to Biren, “It’s alright, let’s go home, it is not like I
am that thirsty anymore.”

Biren looked at Nirvan and then at Ashok, “You don’t know our parents as well?”

“Yes, I don’t know them. Why? Are you going to run home and complain
to them? Go ahead,” said Ashok with a grin.

“I will go ahead,” said Biren.

Ashok stood with the coins in his hand and he saw the bottle of water
disappear from the counter, as Biren began his run with the bottle in
one hand and pushed Nirvan with the other and the boys ran off. Ashok
did try to catch them only to fall off the counter with the coins in
his hand now rolling, bouncing and coming to rest on the floor.

Biren and Nirvan ran for a while and when they thought they were safe,
they stood under a tree and drank the water to defeat their thirst.

Nirvan had a grim expression, “Why did you run? Did we do the right thing?”

“Don’t worry I will go to the store in the evening with my father and
pay the rest of the money,” replied Biren

“It is not about that. But running away like that with the bottle. Was
it necessary?”

“Look Nirvan, it might not have been the right thing to do, but
sometimes in life you will come across people who will ask for such
situations themselves, whether they themselves know it or not; and
when they ask for it, I say the right thing to do is just give it to
them.”

“Where did you learn that from?”

“From our PE teacher while we were playing gootball”

Nirvan looked at Biren, “I am sure he or she spoke it with a very
different vision in mind.”

Biren smiled and looked at the bottle which was empty now. The empty
The bottle found its place in a dustbin and the boys continued their walk
back home.

Written by Anuran Chatterji

Hey, Connect with us:)

• WordPress
• Instagram
• LinkedIn
• Medium