Nice Weirdo

By Rohit Kumar Srivastava

“That’s it!” Sumit shouted, and left the house. That’s it, he thought, and paying no attention to his mother’s scream, turned left and made his way to the railway station. It had always been his favourite spot, so it seemed kinda ironic and fitting to do what he had planned there.

The station was a little more than a 10 minutes walk away from his home, but for some reason it took him about half an hour to reach it. Once he reached, he hovered around the help desk and the platform for about 10 more minutes, and that was when he spotted the beggar for the first time.

A rather dirty fellow, with haggard beard and large, messy hair. He was sitting on a large wooden plate, with wheels attached to it(it was not a skateboard, though) which he was using to travel. Sumit looked at him for a second, and felt a bit uncomfortable. At that moment, his eyes connected with the beggar. Sumit quickly averted his gaze, but then felt a sharp tuck on his knees.

“Saheb, please give somethin to eat, saheb. God will bless you, Saheb. Please give me something to eat.” The beggar begged. Sumit suddenly felt superior, like the bigger being, and proudly, but politely,said to get the hell away from him, throwing in a few slurs too. The beggar, unaffected, went away and started asking someone else. Sumit felt pretty stupid, and was sad and disgusted with himself too, for having said that. He quickly dashed his hand into his pockets, and found that he himself had no more than a 50 rupee note, and a few coins. “Well, might as well spend it all here. Cannot really take it with me after all”, he thought and started walking up and down the platform. That was when he saw a dark little girl in a tattered, oversized clothing. He went over to her, gave her all the coins he had, and started forward.

But he soon stopped in his tracks, turned back, and started retracing his steps. He found what he had been searching for, and saw the beggar. With him, was the small girl he had just met. Sumit went to a shop situated on the platform, bought all the chips he could, went over to the duo, and gave them all the chips but one, and sitting down with them ,he opened a pack.

“I am sorry for earlier. I shouln’t have said that.”

The beggar kept staring at Sumit’s face, then took a packet, and started eating too. “Oye Sumiya, you eat too.” The beggar said to the girl beside him.

“Is she your daughter?” “Ye-Yes.” “What’s wrong? I can go away if you’re not comfortable. ” “No, it is alright, its just that no one has ever done anything like this before.” Sumit chuckled. “Oyi Sumiya, why aren’t you eating too? Come on, join us.”

The girl nodded, and joined them. “She is a quiet girl.”

“Yeah, she has been really quiet since her mother died.”

“Ohh, that’s sad. What happened?”

There was a small, awkward pause. Sumit knew he has spoken something he shouldn’t have. Nevertheless, the beggar replied.

“A madman hit me and her with his car a few years ago. Our whole family was out shopping for some goods. He came out of nowhere, and was so fast we couldn’t even react. Me and her mother were hit. Sumiya was a few steps ahead of us, so she was unharmed.

But that damned man! He… he…. Didn’t even stop! Just sped away! If I could just find him someday..” The beggar was very angry, and was shaking visibly, while Sumit could just sit there, pitying the poor man.

“And then?”

The beggar had a swift change of tone. It was clear he was sad, very sad, and seemed as if he would break down any minute.Sumit was worried for his mental stability for a moment. But he pulled himself together, and replied “And then, some people there came to help and took us to the hospital. When I came to, they told me that.. that… Rukmin was dead.”

He took a long pause, and continued.

“She had died on the spot. I was paralyzed too, and for me to ever walk again, surgery was needed. But I didn’t have such kind of money, never had that much. Therefore I couldn’t even work anymore, and had to leave the factory I used to work in.” “You didn’t have any relatives, you could ask for help?”

“The poor doesn’t have any relatives, saheb. Anyway, I had to do something, so I took all my money and opened a very small shop, but it didn’t really work. I couldn’t do any work, and Sumiya was very small to do any. Little by little, I lost all my money until there was no other business than to beg. But my daughter here, she will become a better person than me. I want to send her to school, they even have free meals there.But I don’t have the money to buy the books or the dress. So I have her work as a maid in some homes , while I beg in the station. Right now, we have met to eat.” “Wait, she doesn’t beg? I gave her some money earlier.”

Hearing this, the beggar was enraged. “Sumiya, what is this? I have told you so many times to work respectfully. Its too dangerous and humiliating!”

“Bu-but I didn’t beg baba. He came to me and gave me money without even asking! I just took it, that’s all.” “Ohh sorry Sumiya. It was my mistake, baba. Forgive her.”

“Even so, she shouldn’t have just taken it! Sumiya, return it, now.” “Let it be baba. Sumiya, just think of it as some money given by your brother, ok?”

Sumiya nodded. She was really happy, not so much for a few coins, but for a big brother she had always wanted.

The beggar was really impressed by the act. He said “You are the first one to have treated us so, Saheb. Giving money is one thing many people do, but you sit with us here and even litsen to me. May God always bless you, Saheb.”

Sumit laughed sadly, suddenly remembering all his pains and the reason he came to the station for. But then he was suddenly curious.

“Baba, God took everything from you, and you still believe in him? Why?”

The beggar smiled, and said, “Saheb, I am but a simple man. I have never thought about believing or not. I just do. If you don’t like God, just think of it as fate or life. But I always pray to whatever it is, to keep blessing us all.”

“Even though fate and life have been as cruel to you?”

“Fate has been cruel, yes, but I am still alive, and my daughter is with me. I don’t know what will happen to us in the future, but we know that it would be good.”

“How can you be so hopeful? You may not get the future you want. It may be even more dark. Doesn’t it seem easier, if it all just ended? Haven’t you ever thought that? Haven’t you ever wanted to give up, and thought if it would be better to just-”

“I have, once. I wanted it all to just end, but I survived. I survived, for Sumiya, and for myself. If I had died, what would have happened to Sumiya? And I still have much energy left myself. We have seen our fair share of dark days, but that is why we will also see the bright days too. I am not going to go before that. One can always change their life, no matter how bleak it has been. You can only keep giving it your all and moving forward, until you’re dead for real.”

There was a long silence, and the only things that can be heard were the hustling and bustling of a station beaming with people and trains.

At last, Sumit stood up. He had a huge smile on his face, and his chest felt very light. Stretching his arms and legs, he took a huge yawn. Turning to the clock on the platform, he exclaimed, “ Ahh! Look at the time! Seems like I should go home now. Thank you, Baba, for all you said.”

“Uh, don’t you have to catch your train?”Sumiya asked.

“Nope, not anymore!” Sumit said cheerfully, and galloped away to the nearest exit.

“What a wierdo”, Sumiya remarked. The beggar said, “Yeah, but a rather nice wierdo.”

By Rohit Kumar Srivastava