Thursday, August 26, 2010

The Mysterious boy at the Petrol Bunk

A week back I filled Petrol and waited to fill air in the tyres. I saw a boy, nondescript, pumping air in the tyres of the vehicle ahead of me and when the man offered a coin he refused to accept it. After my turn I too proffered a few coins and the boy said, "Vendam, Akka." I was surprised and then I said Thanks pa. He looked at me and smiled. And my idle mind set thinking.

What could be the reason? The boy looked obviously poor. A few coins would have surely helped him either to assuage his hunger or to mitigate some basic need. Or his mother could have used it for their household expenses. Why then did he steadfastly refuse to accept the money in spite of my mild persuasion.

Maybe he had his reasons. Maybe he felt it was beneath his dignity to accept tips when he was being paid a salary by the petrol bunk owner. Or maybe he felt accepting a few coins just like that was akin to begging. Or maybe someone sometime had made him feel bad when he asked for money for pumping air. Still for someone like him, even a little amount mattered a lot. To say No to that was inexplicable. I imagined myself in his place and was sure that I would have been greedy for every penny that came my way.

And then today when I visited the Petrol bunk again, the mystery turned deeper. I saw the boy accepting money from a car driver. I wondered whether it was the same boy .... or his brother. Or may be that day was an aberration. Or some holy day when people take all strange vows. Or does he take money only from car owners and not us mere 2-wheeler owners. Whatever...... I remembered how my imagination had run riot the last time .....

Then mindlessly when I offered some money, he again said Vendam Akka. I was stunned. I asked him why and told him that even the last time he did not take money from me and that I saw him taking money from others. Again he smiled and said, Illa Akka, Vendam. Neenga Ponga. Even after much insistence he absolutely refused.

Shaking my head in disbelief, I started my vehicle and turned to see him smile at me. I wagged a finger at him and said, Next time ....... To which too he just smiled and shook his head. And again my imagination ran riot ....... Why would he refuse ....... Maybe ............

3 comments:

prema -just sharing my thoughts said...

nice to know that on your bday you saw a promising lad... the humand mind is so varied and deep to reason out every thought and action would not be possible.. been wondering about the same for quiet a few days... many a person have commented that depth ofan ocean could be measured but not that of a woman.. such ignorance may be ignored for the working of human mind/heart/soul/conscience is a mystery.... judging by appearance is not the only mistake.... even years of association might not reveal the various facets of a person in a given time/situation.. we may through science understand and comprehend the universe, survival of beings etc.... is it possible to understand the homosapiens.....

Balu said...

Just my view, I am sorry to bring this beautiful incident from the emotional platform to a very physical platform.
A little more of investigation on the first day would not have brought the word ‘Mystery’ into the title of your post.
Things are not mysterious in this universe, it is we when we don’t know, instead of simply saying “I don’t know” we call it ‘mysterious’, because we enjoy that state of mind, it’s like intoxication. We shall enjoy that state, but I don’t think we should stay there.
I always feel that ignorance is the only thing that can create “bliss” in our life. Can you name anything else that can create ‘bliss’.
The reason for that boy not accepting could be one of the possibilities which you had tried to postulate, some more analysis will clear the mystery.

Kishores said...

Just now went thru this post. Ahsolutely wonderful piece. Well written and read like a good short story from an acclaimed author. As I said before, the day is not far off for us to attend the book launch of author T.G. Geetha.