Amol had made considerable progress in the task of the day he had been assigned at office. He looked at the clock and it was 12:15 pm. His coffee mug remained empty since the last sip he had taken around 10:30 am.
Amol got up and took the coffee mug along with him. He walked to the pantry; on his way he noticed one of his colleagues and friend Hitesh talking to the office boy Manan.
Amol reached the pantry and noticed another person occupying the coffee machine with another waiting behind, so he walked out on the small adjoining terrace. The Sun was strong, the temperature had gone beyond 35 degrees Celsius. Amol refrained from standing out for too long and stepped in, he found Hitesh filling up a bottle of water while carrying a worried expression.
Amol knew what was bothering Hitesh.
“So, what did Manan need?” asked Amol
Hitesh who was busy with his own thoughts was a little startled by Amol’s voice, then he looked at Amol and smiled.
“Oh, hello Amol. I am sorry I didn’t quite hear you,” said Hitesh
“You were talking to Manan back there. What did he need?” asked Amol
“Well.. he said he needed to make some repairs to his scooter, so he asked me to lend him some money..” said Hitesh
“Did he return the money you lent him last time?” asked Amol
“Not, completely, but he assured me that he will return all of it by the end of this month,” replied Hitesh
“Listen Hitesh, like I have said before, it is your money and you can do whatever you want with it. But you should know when people are trying to take advantage of you,” said Amol
Like Hitesh there are many people who are targeted for such a manner of monetary advantage. While some people may call them generous and kind-hearted, I call them fools because there is a clear line beyond which generosity can become stupidity and Hitesh couldn’t see that line. Our vulnerability in the form of being kind and considerate can become the very trap which makes all peace dissipate.
Not only Amol, but few others including me had tried to warn Hitesh of how people were taking advantage of him. Each time he would say he understood and I believe he did understand but when the time came, he just couldn’t say no. Such people just cannot say ‘no’, no matter the expense it is to themselves, I know this because I was also of such nature once and I guess we all are before understanding life has its share of darkness.
People eventually returned the money Hitesh lent them, but at their own leisurely pace, knowing well that Hitesh would be willing to accept any reason they had for their failure to return the amount on time.
It wasn’t a surprise that a day of an inevitable crisis arrived. Amol came to my desk and said he wanted to have a word outside.
Hitesh had accumulated a significant amount of debt on his credit card, he had been paying the minimum due payable for some time. The amount had gone out of his hand. Hitesh hadn’t been coming to the office for two days; he hadn’t been feeling well.
“Do you know who owes how much to him?” I asked Amol
“I know about a few but not all of them and Hitesh is not ready to tell me,” replied Amol
Later in the evening we went to Hitesh’s home where the environment carried a sense of worry.
“We didn’t know about this,” said Hitesh’s father Mr Joshi, “its better that I talk to him about it first”
So, when Mr Joshi talked things out with Hitesh, we were able to know who owed him money in the office. It was quite a big amount that two people in the office owed him and we had to confront them to ask for the money they had to return. Apparently, both of them had used the money Hitesh had given them to make a downpayment for their apartments. We were able to recover some money on this front and Mr Joshi was able to do the same from a shopkeeper to whom Hitesh had lent money.
We contributed some money of our own as well and the debt was cleared off for now, but a considerable amount still remained.
Hitesh had a role in teaching me an important lesson. Being gullible can invite all forms of trouble and not being able to understand the trap can do a lot of harm to the financial security that we are working so hard to build in our lives. We need to be careful about it whether it is from colleagues, classmates, family, neighbours or a salesman or advertisement trying to sell us the house or car we don’t actually need.
Written by Anuran Chatterji
The Perpetual Giver
Early Morning Memories 