The weather’s really starting to change here, and we haven’t even reached the official beginning of Summer yet (when the temperature can soar to the high 40’s—45 and above sometimes—really Cruel Summers)… I usually used to finish a one litre bottle of water every day, just barely, but now it’s shot up to more than double the amount (and will only keep on rising as the days go by)…
My mom and I were returning from a wonderful bakery in the centre of the city from our place called “Subhan” which in Urdu means Glory I think, and their Osmania Biscuits are the best in town, even better than KARACHI BAKERY’s which pale in comparison, but their Fruit Biscuits have stood the test of time; I’ve been eating them since I used to come here on vacation as a small kid, and have always loved them, but only recently did I discover Subhan (maybe 4 or 5 years ago).
Well, we’d just bought the Osmania biscuits from Subhan, and were making our way back home when we decided to go back the same way we had come, because it had been so long (more than three years now I think) ever since my accident, that I’d avoid making a U-turn in the tiny lane and would rather just stick to the main road which was a little farther down ahead, and even though it’d be a little more congested (and more time consuming) I’d at least avoid making the turn which would just seem to me to be an un-necessary hurdle that I’d have to cross…
But that day for some reason, I felt like making the turn, and going back the way I’d come… ah, yes, it was the fruit seller that I had seen on our way there that we’d meet whenever my mom and I would stop at Subhan, to then buy some fruit from that I wanted to have a glimpse of, cos I always liked the guy… you know, he was one of those kinds of guys, of a by-gone era, always bowing his head while talking to mom, and not minding if my mom would say that something seemed a bit too expensive, even though she’d end up giving him what he’d quote… so there he was, with his little fruit stall—exactly at the same place where it was the last time I’d been there (three years ago, but of course, where else would it be)—with the old man still standing over his fruits, with his small beard and muslim cap on, selling what he had to his customers…
For some reason I didn’t think he’d be there, I don’t know why I thought that (maybe I thought he’d passed away like I almost had, or even worse, maybe he had to sell off his shop like my father did to pay everyone who had come to my rescue after my accident) and I was so happy to see him standing there, doing what he used to, and looking the way he would as I’d always remembered him. We then reached the cross-road soon after, and while going towards the direction of our house (it was probably another 15 to 20 minutes away) this Kleenex seller came up to the car window and asked my mom and I if we wanted to buy any…
I waved my hand and said no, and then turned to my mom and asked her if she wanted any, and she said no too, so we both said no. He then said, okay, I’ll give you four of them for the price of three (he was offering us 3 previously for a 100 rupees, but now he said he’d give us four) so I looked at mom, and I asked her, do we need any tissues… I mean, yeah, we do, but who knows what he’s selling—it’s better to get them from a super-market, right, and my mom agreed. So I told him no again, I’m sorry, and he went to the other cars that were there standing for the light to turn green…
I then thought for a second, and I said to my mom, you know—all we’re going to be doing with them is wiping our noses, so, why not? And she turned to me and said, yeah, they were pretty cheap… so she opened her purse to take out the hundred, and I started scanning for the guy amongst all the cars—he was at the end of the line, trying to sell some boxes, but it didn’t look like anyone was interested… and then the signal turned green. I started to accelerate with the traffic, and as soon as we’d passed the cross-section—I told my mom that I’d be parking the car here, and trying to find that guy, and moved the car to the left side of the traffic and parked in a decent place—got out, and told my mom to just tell the cop if he came by that you’re moving it in a sec, and started walking towards the intersection again.
The intersection was going to be tricky—I’d never done this before, in my injured leg, but the first half of the road that I had to cross was pretty easy, it was the second half that was going to give me a bit of trouble, because the cars, and bikes, and busses, and trucks were blazing their way through it, quite fast, and I thought it would be best if I just waited it out… and besides, it wasn’t like I was alone, I had this small girl standing next to me (she must’ve been no more than 10) who was making herself as comfortable as she could on her bicycle, getting ready to cross the road as soon as the traffic stopped and go back to wherever she’d come from (hey, if she could do it, so could I).
And then when the signal turned green I walked back to where I’d seen the guy, and the vehicles had just started to pile up there, so I wondered where I’d find him, and there he was—standing right there, where another car was parked, right where we were—trying to sell them some tissues… I saw him, and I walked towards him and called him over, and I was going to tell him to put the boxes in the bag that mom had given me, when I just remembered—Oh shit, I’ve totally forgotten how many he was going to give me—was it 4, or 5? So I looked at him, and told him to put the boxes in the bag, and he put in 4, and as I was taking out the 100 to give to him, I looked at him and asked—was it 4 or 5 you said you were going to give me?—and he looked at me, and put his hand to his throat and said, 4: I swear on god.
So I took the bag back to mom, it was way easier crossing the road now, and as I sat down and gave her the bag—I asked her—did he say 4 when we were back there a minute ago, or was it 5, and mom said, why—how much did he give you—and I looked at her and I said, 4, and she looked at me and said “he’d said 4 only Daanish, you paid him right?” Of course, it’s just that there are so many cheats out there, it’s the innocent people like him who end up paying the price… and he even ended up swearing on god no less just because of it, it just made me feel bad…
