"HELP"

That day, Rajesh could not sell a single book. It was getting dark. For survival, he had to do this. After thrown out from the waiter's job in the Radhe-Krisha restaurant on the Main Street, it was the only job he could get, and he wanted not to lose this too. On the day of joining as a salesman, he had made a promise to himself that he would not return home till he would sell at least one set of books. 

Rajesh, aka Raju, was a second-year student in one of the local colleges in Nana Peth. He had the burden of educating his orphan nieces. Though he was only 20 years old, he was the head of the house. Some days he would work as a caterer and would bring the left-over food to his nieces. Some days he would go to assist the fabrication workers in his chawl in painting the window grills and cots. Two months ago, he was appointed as a waiter which earned him more than his expectations, but he left that job too due to late-night duties. 

It was getting darker now. He was about to return home. "If I could find a society or some houses where I could sell at least one set ...," he still had the hope. While pedalling his cycle, he heard a cracking sound from the chain. He parked the cycle on the side-stand and found that the cycle's chain was broken. He had to take the cycle and walk the next eight kilometres to reach his house. 

On his way home, he saw a line of bungalows to his right side. All standing tall. From inside of some bungalows was coming the sound of the English opera music played on the old gramophone, while from some bungalows came the sounds of Doordarshan TV news. 

"How happy their lives are! They don't have to work day and night to earn two times meal." He thought to himself. He looked at the cars and bikes parked in front of the bungalows. "They don't have to walk throughout the day in the sun carrying such a cycle that demands repair every now and then." Angrily, he kicked his cycle and the cycle's wheel started wobbling now. While thinking about the luxurious lives inside those bungalows, he was cursing what fate had offered him. 

He walked for a while. Now there were no bungalows, houses or human around. To reduce his fear, he started humming a tune. There were no streetlights and the road was covered by the canopy of tall trees, and that was giving him an eerie feeling. His mouth was parched. He knew that the water bottle in his sack was empty. 

As he walked some more distance, he saw a bungalow. "Shall I go and ask for some water?" 

"No, you shouldn't. You never know what kind of people must be living there?"

"Come on dude. You are tired. People are good. They help poor people like you."

Thoughts lingered in his mind till he reached in front of the bungalow's gate. He saw a girl around 22 to 25 years old who was opening the latch of the gate and was about to enter. Thinking that it was a good opportunity to ask for help rather than knocking someone's door, he moved quickly towards the gate and asked the girl politely, "Excuse me! Can I get some water? I have to walk for the next eight kilometres and I am very tired." He wiped his sweat on his forehead with his sleeves. 

The girl looked at him from head to toe as she wanted to confirm his intention, and then asked, "What are you doing in this Cantonment area? This is Army area. Aren't you aware of this?" She adjusted her glasses on her nose while holding a bunch of books in her other hand. 

"I knew but my cycle got ..." before he could finish the sentence, she said, "It's ok. Please come inside."

Rajesh went inside the bungalow. It was the biggest house he had ever seen. 

"Please sit on the chair in the corner. I will get you some water," the girl said. He looked at the dressing room. There was a grand piano kept in one of the corners. It seemed that it had not been dusted for days. Some tinted photo frames were on the wall. From the look of the people in the frames, he could guess that the family belonged to an army officer. There was a bronze statue of Emperor Alexander with a spear in his hands. A bookshelf was on the wall. As a keen reader and a book-salesman, he went closer to have a look at it. Before he could touch Agatha Christie's 'The Witness For The Prosecution', the wooden windows opened with a thud and the wind rushed inside the house making a grunting sound. His hand was still in the mid-air, and before he could take his hand a little closer to the book, he heard a growling sound. 

"Don't worry. It is our kitty." The girl said while handing him over the glass of water. 

He looked at the pitch-black coloured cat jumping off the window on the piano, and to his surprise, the cat had only one eye, and that too was as white as marble. 

"Thank you, madam. Thanks a lot." He said with an intention of leaving that bungalow as soon as possible as he gathered his books and the sack. 

"Wait !" The girl said. "Do you sell books?"

"Yes, mam. I could see you have a great collection of suspense novels." Rajesh replied. 

"Then you are of my help. I need the complete work of Shakespeare. A collection of all his dramas. I tried to search it in Crossword but in vain." She said in a whispering voice. 

Raju smelled something was eccentric about this girl, but if she would buy the entire set of Shakespeare's dramas, it would fetch him a good amount. So, for a moment, he ignored the eerie feeling.

"Yes mam, I have that. I can bring it tomorrow for you." He said and then suddenly he paused as if he remembered something, "Sorry ma'am. Tomorrow it won't be possible for me" He took his wallet out and handed a card over to her and said, "This is my card ma'am. If I will not come, you come to my owner's shop and collect it yourself. I will pack the items for you and inform my boss about your order." He wanted to finish his meeting with her as early as possible. 

"Thank you. I will try if possible," the girl said while closing the doors of the bungalow. 

Rajesh left the place and walked as fast as possible till he saw the bungalow disappearing in the road. 

The next night, the girl waited for him to come with the books, but he did not. Three days past. She called in other book shops to see if they had those books, but it was of no use. She was left with only one option to go to Rajesh's shop. She had never been out of that bungalow except for computer classes. That evening, after coming from the class early, she hired an autorickshaw and asked the autorickshaw driver to drop her at the address mentioned on the card. Till she reached her destination, it was about to get dark. 

The autorickshaw driver dropped her in front of a hut. From no angle, it looked like a book shop though there was a signboard 'Novel Bookstore' hanging on the door. 

She knocked on the door. Nobody responded. She knocked on the door one more time. Twice. Thrice. The tin door was opened with a cracking sound by a small girl. She looked at the girl. Her hair was dishevelled, clothes were dirty, and she was looking weak. 

"What do you want madam?" Who do you want to meet?" The girl asked. 

She looked inside for that boy from the half-opened door, but nobody was there. Some other girl was sleeping on the ground.

"I came here to collect some books. I was told that my books will be packed and kept aside." She said.

"Come inside madam." The little girl said. 

She opened the rusted tin trunk kept in the corner, and took a pack of books out of the trunks, and handed over the pack to the girl. 

"Are you talking about these books?"

The girl took the books and a wide smile spread across her face. She read the price on the pack, took money from her purse and handed it over to the little girl. 

"Thank you. You don't know how valuable these books are for me. Say thanks to that book salesman" said the girl and was about to leave the open door.

"Who salesman?" 

"The one who came to my house some night ago." She said. 

"Is he the one you are talking about?" The little girl said while pointing a finger at a photograph hanging on the wall.

The photograph was of the same book salesman. In the photograph, he was wearing the same shirt and the same pant, and the same sack on his shoulder. The girl got the shock of her life when she read what was written under the photograph:

Rajesh Sampat Shinde

Birth: 12 April, 1998

Death: 7 March, 2018

(to be continued)

Author: Amit Kharat