There’s Always A Way

By Roy Thomas

Papen was a happy man. That was till about two days ago. His daughter Premi’s wedding had been finalized and with that a big burden had been lifted off his shoulders; not completely though-that would only happen once the nuptials actually got over.

Papen was not a rich man-he ran a small wayside shop-rather grandly called KP stores- from where, on an average, he could eke out around a hundred rupees a day as earnings. A small hut close by with around ten cents of land was his only asset. He lived there with his wife and only daughter –Premi. She was a bright girl and had completed her schooling but could not continue further due to lack of funds. She instead learned tailoring and then joined a small garment unit close by.

The proposal for Premi had come through an acquaintance of his. The boy’s father worked as a lower division clerk in the Panchayat office. The boy had completed his diploma in electrical engineering and worked as an electrician with a firm in the nearby town of Thodupuzha. Premi was a bright and pretty girl and the boy had no hesitation in saying yes to her.

The horoscopes were subsequently checked by the astrologer who, after ten minutes of calculations and another five minutes of explanations on the various technicalities to the anxiously waiting families, confirmed that the stars matched.

Then came the negotiations-the boy’s parents had demanded half a lakh rupees as dowry. Papen argument that since Premi was his only daughter, all that he had, which included the land, would eventually go to her did not cut much ice with them. After long hours of haggling and negotiations, they finally agreed to a sum of rupees twenty-five thousand. Papen was ok with this –he knew if he sold five cents of his land he could get this amount.

The sale of the land had gone through without any hitch and on the designated day Papen, along with a few relatives had gone over to the boy’s house for the formal engagement during which time he handed over the agreed sum to the prospective bridegroom’s father. Based on the advice of the astrologer the date of the wedding was fixed.

Over the next few days various relatives, neighbours and friends dropped in to congratulate Papen and to partake in a cup of tea with the joyous family and to wish the starry-eyed bride to be.

A few days later the boy’s father had landed up at the shop again.

“Papen how are you?” he asked, breezing into the shop nonchalantly.

“Ok,” replied Papen rather apprehensively, “what brings you to these parts?’

“Oh, nothing much- we just finalized on the catering arrangements for the wedding- your share would be ten thousand rupees and I wanted to discuss how you wanted this settled-you can either pay the money directly to the contractor or you could hand it over to me,” replied the man.

Papen’s heart sank. “But I thought the sum that I gave you covered all the expenses?” he explained.

“Of course not,” answered the prospective father-in-law, “it’s always understood that these expenses would be shared separately.”

Papen hardly slept that night- tossing and turning till the early hours of the morning. At the crack of dawn, he got up and walked up to the local party leader’s house. Madhusudan, who Papen had known from his student leader days, was the leader of the communist party. Although he was surprised to see Papen at such an hour he politely welcomed him and offered him a cup of hot coffee.

“And what bring you here so early comrade?” he asked.

“Sare” Papen replied, his heart thumping away like a galloping horse, “I need to borrow some money for my daughter’s marriage.”

“I am so sorry comrade,” Madhusudan answered with an apologetic look on his face as he was genuinely fond of Papen, “but things are really bad – collections for the party funds have dipped and this is one of the subjects for discussion at the forthcoming party meeting that is being hosted by our unit.”

“But tell you what,” he continued with a big smile and a wink at Papen, “What I could do is to give you the order for the two tons of rice that we will have to anyway order for the three-day meeting. You could add a reasonable profit margin and I will ensure that you get paid cash immediately you make the supply. No cash advance is possible though-payment only against the supply of rice or I will have to answer various questions that will come up on why an advance was paid, when there is no such precedent. I don’t want any aspersions on my character at this critical stage of my political life. You know how my enemies in the party wait for such opportunities.”

‘I will give you two days to bring the supplies, otherwise, I will have to make alternate arrangement, ok,’ he concluded rather apologetically.

Papen nodded glumly and then wearily trudged to his shop. He slumped on the chair, weak and tired from lack of sleep and worry. “Where can I possibly arrange another ten thousand rupees from?” he asked himself in despair.

He was hardly in a mood to speak to his customers who were surprised by his unusual reluctance to talk.

At noon that day his friend Vasu, who worked in the nearby warehouse of the consumer goods company, came and visited him.

“My wife is ill and I am not able to take her to the dispensary as I don’t have the money,” he remarked sullenly to no one in particular.

Papen looked at him glumly without any comments.

“And I didn’t check the stocks today as is customary –just signed the stock sheet and sent it - serves sons of bitches right –they make so much money but they don’t pay us properly- after making us slave like dogs!” he continued ranting.

“When will you have to check the stocks again?” Papen asked Vasu. An idea was slowly forming in his mind.

“Now only after two days will I have to check the stocks and give a report,” he informed Papen with a sly grin, “Unless there is a surprise check.”

Papen had almost finalized his plan by that evening.

He had remembered the long conversations with Vasu on the various products this multinational corporation sold. They were premium products with terrific sales and good demand. In fact, it went on a premium in certain areas as there were shortages at times. Some of the shop owners would even come all the way to the go-down and pay cash and buy stocks as the company’s delivery vans never covered their areas.

Papen’s friend Velu owned a small tempo which he hired out. Papen went to him and told him that he wanted to hire his tempo for the next day.

“I need to take some products for sale to an area that is approximately a two-hour drive from here,” he explained.

“No problem,” replied Velu, “actually the area you want to go to is a remote area without proper roads but I will charge you the same local rates –no extras for you”.

“Good, that’s fixed,” replied Papen, “Please come in by 5 a.m. as I would like to start early. I will also need to pick up some stuff on my way back.”

That night Papen broke into the multinational corporation’s warehouse. He silently picked the lock while keeping an eye on the snoring watchman.

It was tough going for a man who was not used to carrying loads but as planned he still managed to remove ten cases each of soap and toothpaste, which he stacked near the outside wall and, subsequently, moved them near his shop. He also stole a copy of the company’s price list and a bill book that was lying around.

Promptly at 5 a.m. Velu landed up. He looked wide-eyed at Papen’s load.

“And from where sir, may I ask, did you land up with this stuff,” he asked suspiciously.

“Just mind your own business, man!” Papen replied grinning, “And don’t ask questions and keep your big mouth shut, Ok!”

Papen trusted Velu enough to know that he would not say a word to anyone.

They reached the rural town after a two-hour ride. Hardly any words were exchanged between the two friends. On reaching Papen brought breakfast for himself and Velu at the nearby hotel and promptly at nine a.m. set off for the local shops.

“I am from the company,” he announced at the largest shop in the area, “We are here for a special promotion of our soaps and toothpastes. Both items, we all know, sell like hotcakes and most of you actually come all the way to the go-down to buy these items. As a special promotion, we are offering a 2% discount on the list price but we will be restricting the quantity we will offer you and please bring cash.

The queue that formed outside the van was thirty strong-each of the shops trying to grab as much as possible. The sale got over by eleven a.m. Papen had collected Rupees twenty-three thousand, two hundred and fifty, for his efforts.

Papen and Velu enjoyed a hearty lunch at around 12.15 p.m. They then proceeded to the local rice merchant’s go-down.

“I want twenty sacks of rice,” he told the owner, “Remember I am paying you cash and I have come to this remote area using my own transport so please give me a good discount.”

After fifteen minutes of haggling, Papen managed a good 20% discount.

He loaded the rice with Velu’s help and reached his home town by 4 p.m. After refreshing themselves with a cup of tea, they promptly went to the communist party’s office and delivered the rice along with the bill, duly marked up by five rupees a kilo on the market price, as suggested by the leader.

The leader was a little surprised to see Papen. He had been quite sure that Papen would not have had the wherewithal to arrange for the necessary funds. However, true to his promise, he settled the bill without any hesitation, paying him in crisp new hundred-rupee notes.

Papen immediately settled Velu’s bill, paying him an additional hundred rupees as a bonus.

He then walked up to the multinational company’s go-down and walked straight up to the person in charge.

“I am from KP stores,” he informed the Supervisor. I would like to place an order for ten cases of soap and ten cases of toothpaste. I am paying cash down and could you have it delivered to my shop immediately please.”

The supervisor was surprised but made no comments.

Papen waited in his shop for the stocks to arrive and after settling the bill locked the material in a small room inside. Later on that night Papen broke into the warehouse once again.

This time he returned all the cases he had taken the previous night, even replacing the cartons in the exact location he had lifted them from earlier. The sleeping watchman once again snored through the entire operation. Papen re-fixed the lock and secured it, leaving no traces of the break-in.

He reached his house by 12 midnight and was welcomed home by his relieved wife and daughter. They had never seen him behave so suspiciously before but held there counsel and wisely desisted from asking him for any explanations on his rather strange behavior.

The next morning Papen counted the money he had left with him. As anticipated it was exactly ten thousand five hundred rupees. Later that evening, he phoned up the boy’s father from the local telephone booth who immediately landed up at the shop to collect the amount. It was promptly given to him but before Papen parted with the money he got an assurance from the man that there would be no other payment to be given-not now or later.

An hour later Vasu landed up at Papen’s shop after his day’s work looking glum as ever.

“Just completed the stock checking,” he informed Papen, “there was a surprise check today but everything was in order!”

“And how is your wife?” asked Papen.

“Still not too good. But I don’t have the five hundred rupees that I need to pay for her treatment and so I am a little worried,” Vasu replied.

Papen pulled out a cover with five, hundred-rupee notes that he had kept aside.

“This is five hundred rupees for you,” he said and gave it to the surprised man, “and thanks for everything!”

Vasu’s jaw nearly fell off in surprise!

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By Roy Thomas