Life Coach

By Chinmayee Priyadarshini Dash

The serenity of a winter Saturday afternoon suddenly got eradicated by the horn blared in the street

outside, a bus pulled over leaving a huge cloud of dust behind. A few people alighted and 2 of them

immediately headed towards the communal toilet situated about 15 meters from here and the rest of

them tried to cross the road to come this side.

Expecting a few customers, I hurriedly started to splash some water on my face to get rid of the

grogginess from a sweet long nap I took.

“Do cup chai kardo” (two cups of tea please), the man said in his tired voice from the bus journey. It was

a family actually; the man was in his late forties and the lady was halfway into her thirties it seemed; she

wore a cotton faded saree with dupatta on head. They also had a boy who was around 7 years old.

As soon as the man ordered for the tea, the little boy started demanding for a packet of chips, priced

50rs, tugging at his father’s washed-out kurta.

No, you had chips yesterday, have a cookie, “ek biscut de do bhai.” The man disregarded his

demand in a second. Showing complete refusal to his decision, the boy started crying loudly and

rolling on the ground.

What will we do now? The lady continues as they sit on the bench, completely ignoring the crying

little boy.

Zamindar sahib was our last hope after losing our business due to covid, I thought he would

understand that it was not exactly a loan request but a cry for help to even survive. I would not

have spent 150 visiting him if I knew we would return empty handed.

I could sense pain and disappointment with a little bit of anger in the man’s voice.

Your brother is not any less, have we ever asked for our share in the coconut business since we left

village, that coconut garden was grown by your father who had two sons. Leave this too, apart

from talking law, even a stranger would show some mercy hearing our condition. The lady spoke in

an enraged voice.

Did Zamindar show any mercy?? Leave it mala, there is no one for poor people, and now it feels

like even God wants to sink our ship.

No, don’t say like that. I have full faith on my Krishna, he will show us a way, leave everything up to

him. she joined her hand in a prayer position as she said this. Arey Chunnu, come baba, come here,

why are you on the floor, she called the little boy affectionately.

The boy had stopped crying few minutes ago and was listening to his parents carefully.

“Life coach” lelo, “life coach” lelo, a loud voice started coming through the window at the back of

my stall.

What is life coach bhaiya, I asked the seller by peeking through the window. This book is a guide to

your life, he lifted both eyebrows while saying this. You can learn everything like how to make

money, deal with difficult people, how to make better decisions etc. etc.

How much for the tea? The man asked from behind, I returned to my counter and said 20rs.

What chips were you crying for, just take it, he said softly. He clearly was feeling sorry for making

the tiny guy cry.

No, I will just take this toffee.

Just this??? The man was surprised and insisted to have that packet of chips. No baba, I want toffee

only. (Costs 2rs)

I thought to myself as they left my shop, “Life coach, the book” or “Life coach, the life itself.”

So that is all I have for today, I will surely come back next time with more stories for you.

By Chinmayee Priyadarshini Dash