TWO MORSELS OF RICE

November 1982. I was on an evening stroll. Balji, in charge police station Karan Nagar spotted me from his police station. The police station was housed in a dilapidated row of rooms on the periphery of the Diwan Building on the corner of the road leading towards Sadmensurun-Nawa Bazar. Balji wanted me to be a mediator to a minor dispute between some locals living in a bahech (A big boat partly used for residence and partly to carry and sell building material). The locals were dealing in quick lime. Their behech was just under the Sadmunsurun Bridge . They were known as chunne henz. The other party was Amjad Alam from Mahrashtra and his wife.

Amjad had purchased a three-wheeler from the locals for rupees eighteen thousand. He had paid them eight thousand rupees and promised to pay the balance within three months. The vehicle was delivered to Amjad. Transfer of ownership was subject to the clearance of the balance amount. Despite lapse of six months, the balance did not come down.

The locals confiscated the vehicle, which was still in their name in the official records. Amjad tried to instigate Balji for help. Balji failed to cash the opportunity for there was no legal flaw. Now Balji and the two parties looked at me for my mediation.

I asked Amjad to pay a little amount to get the vehicle released on my responsibility and pay the rest in easy instalments.

Before Amjad could respond, his wife said: “I swear by Khuda and His Rasool that this evening, we don’t have a morsel of rice to feed our two school- going children and you are asking us to pay a little.” Immediately I withdrew my suggestion and directed the locals to release the vehicle and come to me for payment the next morning. The locals obliged me and released the vehicle to Amjad Alam.

Next morning the locals came to me along with Amjad Alam. As per my commitment, I paid ten thousand rupees to the party against a set of papers duly signed by the party with blanks to be filled subsequently. I kept a note of the payment with a pencil on a piece of paper: “Rs. Ten thousand, Amjad Alam R/O Mahrashtra”. I got excited to be a philanthropist who could not bear the statement that they did not have two morsels of rice to feed their children. For next twenty four hours I continued to pat myself for the deed.

Next day 11 AM , I know not why I started to think that it was a folly on my part to trust an outsider unknown resident of Mahrashtra. My heartbeats started to accelerate. Soon the sound of my heartbeat was audible. To me it seemed that probably, it was the indication of a heart trouble and it may be followed by a stroke. Immediately good sense prevailed. I consoled myself and talked to self in second person: “You did a good deed in the name of God. Had you closed your eyes and mind towards the two children going to bed without food, you would fall in the category of sinners. Now you have paid the money without any self interest in the name of God. If this money is yours, you will get it back, otherwise forget about it. You don’t deserve to purchase heart trouble for your good deed”. Heart and mind both agreed with the SELF and the heartbeat came down to normal.

CHAMATKAR

The same evening 5 PM , Amjad came to me and requested: “Keep my three-wheeler with you and pay me one thousand rupees more. I know the technique of making toffee. I shall switch over to that trade”.

I gained trust in him and said: “You keep the vehicle. I shall pay you one thousand more. Let you do both the jobs and repay me in daily easy instalments only after your domestic necessities are fulfilled. It is an interest free loan”.

Amjad resisted vehemently. He said: “Since 11 AM , I don’t know what happened to me. I feel scared. I apprehend an accident may occur. Please give me one thousand more. I shall manage the modest plenty”.

I paid one thousand more to Amjad for his new venture and inspected his workshop cum residence at Balgarden. He purchased one quandary, one quintal of sugar for six hundred rupees and groundnuts and started the new venture. Subsequently I had to pay one thousand more to relieve his driver from whom he had borrowed the money to be one amongst the transporters.

To sum up, finally the couple turned out to be a fraud. I was saved by God in whose account I had credited the money in the morning of the Day at 11.