Strange Ways Of Life !

Strange Ways Of Life ! – Short Story with Moral Value
Photo credit: Alvimann from morguefile.com

“Can you please pack 1 kg gulaabjaamun?”,

I asked the shopkeeper  of a famous sweet shop in the  middle of a busy market after checking the prices of available sweets and cross checking it with the recession-hit wallet of mine.

“And a chocolate also. The big one right there. The one with almonds.”

“Oh, and that small one too.”

Keshav has 2 kids. I just remembered. I was now left with money just enough to catch a bus back home. Sigh.
Keshav had been promoted. And so, he, my childhood friend had invited me over in this chilly wintertime for dinner to celebrate. Venue was his home which was at the end of the marketplace.

While the shopkeeper was packing the sweets for me, I looked across the road. A sad sight of a seemingly  large family, sitting at the corner of a shop, trying to warm themselves by keeping together in front of a gas on which some snacks were made, drew my attention. And yet, the elder ones among them, who looked no more than some 13 year olds, were hopelessly looking/ begging for some food and warmth with no success. Nobody in the busy, bustling marketplace paid any attention to them. With no extra money to spare, I guiltily turned away, took my packet and walked towards Keshav’s place.

Keshav and his wife Meera welcomed me warmly. I congratulated Keshav for his promotion, gave them the packet of sweets & called for Dhruv and Daksh, his sons.

I gave Dhruv, the 13 yr old elder son, the bigger chocolate, the one with almonds. And Daksh, the 10 yr old, younger son, the smaller chocolate.

But, Oh! Daksh wasn’t happy at all. He wanted the bigger chocolate Dhruv had. All of the chocolate without any sharing. So much so that he threw his chocolate at me. Unknowingly, I put it in my pocket.  But Dhruv refused to exchange it or even share it with Daksh.

So Daksh tried to snatch it from Dhruv and there! Dhruv slapped him hard.

Oh boy what a fight! The kids were running all over the house, shouting and screaming at each other for the chocolate.
And finally Keshav had to intervene and ask the servant to get a similar chocolate for Daksh too. Only after Daksh had his own big, almond chocolate did both the children stopped their fight.

After dinner, I took leave. I had to cross the still busy marketplace to reach the bus stop.

On my way, I passed the same sweet shop again. The poor family was still sitting there. One of the children from the family saw me looking at them across the road. And within no time, he was begging me to give him some money to feed his family. With no one even giving a second look to the helpless family, I decided to walk all the way back home.

As I put my hand in the pocket to give him the money, I realized that I had Daksh’s smaller chocolate in my pocket.

‘I must have kept it when he’d thrown it away at me’ I thought.

I took the chocolate out and gave it to the little boy. The little boy, bewildered with the prize he’d got, stared at the chocolate in an innocent yet strange way.

“Here, “I said, “get yourself a blanket and some food.”

The child took the money, thanked me, blessed me and ran away. he immediately went to his family, tore the chocolate wrapper, divided the chocolate into as many pieces as there were people and gave a piece to everybody.
They all were delighted to eat the chocolate. There was a strange yet soothing sense of satisfaction on the child’s face.

“Strange are the ways of life,” I wondered.

” Where on one hand, the blessed ones had no sense of sharing and togetherness  while on the other hand, the not-so-blessed ones were happy in sharing even the smallest of their joys and happiness. 2 families. 1 chocolate. Ah!life!”

It was a strange day indeed. And I started to walk. I had a long way to go.

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