Thursday, April 19, 2007

Aftertaste

I had seen her on my way to the park. In the growing darkness she would sit along the roadside. And then when the street lamps would come to life, she would pack her polythene sheet into a bundle and go home. On a local train. With her green figs.


Figs, like berries...the greenest and the most wonderful I had seen. They were the colour of the dark leaves of the banyan. And fresh. Unscathed. I could not help thinking about them. She was beautiful too. And she sat with her figs everyday. You would imagine her to be just another vegetable seller. But I had seen her eyes. She sat there just like that. I had never seen anyone buy figs from her. There were occasional drunken brats that would pass lewd comments at her. She would calmly look down and ignore them.


I wanted to buy them figs from her. But I wasn't even sure if she wanted to sell them at all. I thought to myself-'what if she is just sitting there for nothing?' But I knew I had to buy the figs from her. I had been looking for them forever. Days went by.


I finally gathered enough courage to go up to her.



-Excuse me. But are these figs for selling?

-They are.(she did not look up)



It was all that I could ever ask for. I took out the biggest rupee-note that I had.



-Give me all of them, please.



She went on to put them in a packet for me. When she looked up and saw the note in my hand. Her face fell.



-But I don't have so much change on me sir.

-I don't need any change. You don't know how eagerly I have been looking for these all these years.

-You are over-paying sir. It would not be fair of me to accept so much in return of the handful of berries that I have to give you.

-Trust me, I am not. I cannot afford to pay you in cash the value these figs bear to me. Please give me the figs. I cannot give you any less.

-But what if you feel cheated later. What if you come back tomorrow to ask your money back?

-Why would I? Believe me Miss, I will be grateful all my life for these berries. Please.

-No. I can't.



And saying this, she packed her polythene into a bundle and started walking towards the Railway station. Like she did everyday. She went back home with her figs. Perhaps planning to come back one day to sell them to someone who paid her just the price she wanted. Just the worth she thoughts her berries were.


I started walking towards the park. The taste of the figs in my tongue.






P.S. Anuj D says:When the sun started to move around the earth, had it not any idea that the earth would fall in love with it; when the oceans started to wave up & down, had it not any idea that the water would fall in love with it; when the birds started to fly, had it not any idea that the sky would fall in love with it; when the breeze started to flow, had it not any idea that the beach would fall in love with it. When she was born had she not any idea that I will rise in love.

14 comments:

  1. so mundane and yet so extraordinary.......in short life.....

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  2. shit man. i really like it... bhalo likhechhish.

    *btw, fig er bangla ki re? ami jaani na.*

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  3. Wrapped in a polythene, indeed. That's what they always do. Wrap it up, walk away. Damned fruitsellers.

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  4. shaptarshi, my friend. im speechless. so let this be speech enough.

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  5. the idealist the dreamer always dies hungry, no?

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  6. @ guitargeorge: Yes.

    @ Kaichu: Thankyooo :D

    @ Dhruva: Damned stinking rich fig buyers.

    @ #3tiYo>B_shyo: Thanks again.

    @ Oliver: The dreamer will go hungry but NEVER die.

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  7. go hungry how long? the body doesn't dream. i'm learning that the hard way. i don't like it either.

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  8. Well the Body does dream, infact it is primarily the body that dreams... for what else is mind than the Dream that the Body has, the dream of an alternate world... for what else is the mind than a simulation of one's wishful world!!!

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  9. lingering feel of a talisman, untouched.
    a puzzle to which there may be a thousand answers...but none satisfactory enough.
    i dont know really.how typical of me.sorry.

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  10. @ Oliver: I don't know :)

    @ The inquirer: Umm...yes. True to a certain extent.

    @ Shrey_a_she: Wrong. Only one answer. The answer we happen not to know. :)

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  11. It's nice. But, well, I've heard the basic story before, in some moral science book, I think.

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  12. Hey

    :) so you have managed to pinpoint what sorta writings draw my attention. I liked reading it. I refuse to look over what other people said abt it because right now im drawing a VERY metaphorical lesson/fact of life from it and it's familiar. I want to dwell in the afterthought and find more and more intricacies within it. Intricacies which you may not have thought of when you wrote it, but honestly, if you directed me to this after reading "shopping", then I'm pretty sure you might be aware of the direction of thought and emotion.

    Again, thank you for commenting and showing your readership. I was pleasantly surprised.

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  13. I am glad that you see the connection. I was half expecting a snobbish what-has-this-to-do-with-my-post reply. Thanks.

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  14. Of course I wouldnt be snobbish. I respect fellow writers and writings and you have been nothing but courteous.

    :) hope to keep seeing you, and you can expect me often as well

    regards
    -mesh

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