“A man in suit…..that’s new,” the old man said in his
quivering voice as he sat beside Rohit. A whiff of cheap cigarette emanated
from Rohit’s breath as he looked at the kurta clad scrawny old man. “What’s new
about it?” he asked indifferently. “In dark nights like this…..beside this ever
flowing river, I have seen people, a lot of them. Beggars with empty stomachs, sadhus with no home, wanderers who were
lost, people with urns brimmed with ashes of the demised……..and this benevolent
bank embraces all of them. But you seem like none of them,” the old man said.
Rohit looked at him and then at the dark clouds that had muffled the full moon
completely. There was ubiquitous silence, nothing but the gentle flow of river
was audible. It was odd; the frogs weren’t croaking, the crickets weren’t
chirping, the owls weren’t hooting and Rohit wasn’t speaking. “If not anything
else……you can at least tell me your name,” this time the old man nudged him.
Rohit was irked now. If that had been another day, Rohit and
the old man would have been pals by now. But that day was different. He wanted
to shut him away from everything……just like the moon had shut itself from earth
behind the clouds. He wanted to yell at the old man and wanted him to
leave……but at that moment he didn’t have enough strength for yet another
outburst, so he just replied with a lump in his throat. “Rohit…..my name is
Rohit.” The old man put his arms over his shoulders affectionately. “You seem
troubled young man….what’s troubling you.”
Maybe it was the eerie silence or the haunting darkness or
maybe it was that affectionate gesture, the type of which he hadn’t received
since the day he submerged his father’s ashes in the same river which was
flowing in front of him, that made him break down after three long arduous
months. He had faced everything but this was the first time that his eyes
finally vented out the pain of failure. “I am a big bad failure….. I don’t know
why I should live anymore,” he sobbed inconsolably.
“But what happened?”
“It all started three months back….. I lost the
contract….the shares fell…. I lost my father….. I couldn’t pay my employees…..finally
I had to close my company….. I got bankrupt and today…..they auctioned my
house. There is nothing new about me mister…..rather I am some part of all the
people you’ve met here.” His voice was almost incomprehensible because of the
continuous sobs. A slight breeze passed over the land ruffling his airs. The
old man looked patiently at the young man’s tears joining the river in its
flow. “So you have come here to end your life?” The old man asked. “No…..but
now I intend to.” Rohit wasn’t sobbing anymore, his voice was rather hollow. He
stood up abruptly and just then his wallet slipped from his pocket, stumbled
down the smooth pebbles and went splashing into the water. Rohit immediately
jumped into the river and after a lot of searching finally came back with his
wallet.
“How much money is there in your wallet?”
“Five hundred something….why?”
“You have lost all your fortune …..what difference a loss a
few more five hundred bucks would have made that you strived so hard to get it
back.”
“It wasn’t for the money….it was for this,” he showed him
his wallet. There was a drenched photo of a cute little girl with sparkling
black eyes and rosy cheeks. “She is my daughter…..four years now. She now lives
with her mother since I got bankrupt. This is the last photo I have of her.”
The old man laughed. Rohit looked at him in dismay. “What is there to laugh?”
“I am laughing at the irony dear. You said you are bankrupt
yet your wallet is so rich!!”
Rohit was stunned for a while. The river now reflected the
lunar light as the moon had broken away from the shackles of cloud. “My
daughter used to chide me for making her search the entire house for my spects
while those pair of glasses rested in the pocket of my kurta. If she were
here…..she would have chided you too. Most often the things we are searching
for are right there under our nose…..but our eyes couldn’t see them. You have a
reason young man….a reason to live….a treasure to keep.” The old man also stood
up, patted Rohit on his back and began trotting away. “Hey thanks mister….that
was some good advice… I needed it. Who are you?” Rohit asked.
“Just someone who is not as rich as you are.”
