I was waiting there.......right at the boundary of the giant mall, with a trolley full of stuff you are likely to buy while setting up a new household. There were utensils, vegetables, soaps, detergents and all sorts of other nonsensical items that made sense to me while I picked them up at the mall. It made me wonder that I would invariably go home, unpack the stuff and ask myself the million dollar question - "What made me buy all that? Its such a waste.......". Yet people do buy all such stuff which appeals the eye, exhibitioned in the brightness of colossal, air-conditioned malls; so much so that some hardly bother to take a look at the price tags. We are no different from the rest........even this 'Big Bazaar' mall in Patia is no different for that matter. Rather, they are one step ahead the rest of the lot.......these guys offer free of cost, 5 kgs of Sugar for every 1000 bucks worth purchase of goods from the mall.....
"Mu jauchi prize-ta neba pae (I'll go and collect the prize)" said Niranjan. 'Prize', his expression to describe 30 kgs of Sugar which we just 'won' thanks to a mega-purchase. 30 kgs of Sugar.........can you beat that....... I could already see the ants invading our kitchen. They would come through the hole in the window near the sink marching on ruthlessly towards their target, packed in non-bio-degradable plastic that people call 'polythene'. "Kabaak gift kori dim (I'll gift it to someone)" I thought aloud and at the same time smiled at the idea of gifting 25 kgs or so of Sugar to somebody..........Sugar, of all things!.........
"Kal se aaj jyaada bhir hai (Its more crowded today than it was yesterday)" said a feminine voice, interrupting my train of thoughts. I looked at the source of this statement and saw a bunch of youngsters with Infosys ID cards hanging from their high-held necks, their shoulder drooping on to one side with the 5 kg weight of their laptops. These guys make Bhubaneswar look like another Gurgaon.... or Bangalore rather.... "Eiketa aaji kae kg ceni jiki ahe kunu thik nai (Wonder how many kgs of sugar do they win today)...."
"Cling....Cling......". The sound of coins made me look in the direction of the entrance to the mall, bang opposite to the podium on which I was standing, an old man of about 55-60 and a kid, about 5 years old squatted on the pavement. Although they didn't quite look like beggars, but the word HUNGER was written clearly in their eyes for everyone to see. Few passersby threw coins at them, others ignored the wretched pair, a young boy came down his car and handed out some change.......I recalled how my sister always kept some biscuits ready with her for such occasions. "It is the best policy", she used to say, "If you give them money, you never know if its going to fill their stomach or some crook's pocket".
I turned my gaze to the direction which Niranjan had left to collect his "Prize". "Whats taking him so long? Finding a suitable trolley to transport 30 kgs of sugar, I guess". Window-searching the fast-food stores at the periphery of the mall revealed nothing of interest.......Pizzas, burgers, puffs, blah, blah......stuff with hardly any nutrition value but high 'purse thinning' and 'stomach inflating' value was all there for the Infys and the TCSs and the Wipros to devour...... but nothing for the old man and the boy ......no panacea for their HUNGER......temporarily I mean........
"Chalo jeeba, mili gola Prize (Lets go, got the Prize)" Niranjan, smiling ear to ear came with a trolley full of 'you know what'.......Without a word, I pushed my trolley towards him and dashed back to the main entrance to the mall, leaving him to take care of both the trolleys. I went straight to the biscuits section and found what I was looking for - "Parle G" biscuits 220 grams @ 10 bucks each......I took 4 of the packets and paced towards the billing counter.....Roughly a kg of the biscuits shall be sufficient for both of them to sleep the night in peace......10 long minutes at the counter, while the same old nonsensical items passed through the bar-code reader, their purchasers happy to pay the ridiculous sums with plastic money......."Don't they ask themselves the same question? Don't they say - What did I buy this for?" Anyways, I handed out the 40 bucks for my purchase and rushed toward the exit............ Niranjan stood there with an Auto-wala and a security guard, the stuff loaded onto the auto......."Dekhontu agya, dharma sohiba nahin........Se chup-chap bosuthila, jea chahuthila, se douthila se nouthila, aau kana (See, its such a disgrace, they were quietly sitting there in that corner, whoever felt the need to give them something gave them alms, what harm did they do to you?)" the heated auto-wala directed with all his energy to the security guard........Niranjan shook his head........they had chased them away........trespassers not allowed......Such was the rule of the land........One look at the security guard showed that it was not his fault........He was only obeying orders.......
"Mu jauchi prize-ta neba pae (I'll go and collect the prize)" said Niranjan. 'Prize', his expression to describe 30 kgs of Sugar which we just 'won' thanks to a mega-purchase. 30 kgs of Sugar.........can you beat that....... I could already see the ants invading our kitchen. They would come through the hole in the window near the sink marching on ruthlessly towards their target, packed in non-bio-degradable plastic that people call 'polythene'. "Kabaak gift kori dim (I'll gift it to someone)" I thought aloud and at the same time smiled at the idea of gifting 25 kgs or so of Sugar to somebody..........Sugar, of all things!.........
"Kal se aaj jyaada bhir hai (Its more crowded today than it was yesterday)" said a feminine voice, interrupting my train of thoughts. I looked at the source of this statement and saw a bunch of youngsters with Infosys ID cards hanging from their high-held necks, their shoulder drooping on to one side with the 5 kg weight of their laptops. These guys make Bhubaneswar look like another Gurgaon.... or Bangalore rather.... "Eiketa aaji kae kg ceni jiki ahe kunu thik nai (Wonder how many kgs of sugar do they win today)...."
"Cling....Cling......". The sound of coins made me look in the direction of the entrance to the mall, bang opposite to the podium on which I was standing, an old man of about 55-60 and a kid, about 5 years old squatted on the pavement. Although they didn't quite look like beggars, but the word HUNGER was written clearly in their eyes for everyone to see. Few passersby threw coins at them, others ignored the wretched pair, a young boy came down his car and handed out some change.......I recalled how my sister always kept some biscuits ready with her for such occasions. "It is the best policy", she used to say, "If you give them money, you never know if its going to fill their stomach or some crook's pocket".
I turned my gaze to the direction which Niranjan had left to collect his "Prize". "Whats taking him so long? Finding a suitable trolley to transport 30 kgs of sugar, I guess". Window-searching the fast-food stores at the periphery of the mall revealed nothing of interest.......Pizzas, burgers, puffs, blah, blah......stuff with hardly any nutrition value but high 'purse thinning' and 'stomach inflating' value was all there for the Infys and the TCSs and the Wipros to devour...... but nothing for the old man and the boy ......no panacea for their HUNGER......temporarily I mean........
"Chalo jeeba, mili gola Prize (Lets go, got the Prize)" Niranjan, smiling ear to ear came with a trolley full of 'you know what'.......Without a word, I pushed my trolley towards him and dashed back to the main entrance to the mall, leaving him to take care of both the trolleys. I went straight to the biscuits section and found what I was looking for - "Parle G" biscuits 220 grams @ 10 bucks each......I took 4 of the packets and paced towards the billing counter.....Roughly a kg of the biscuits shall be sufficient for both of them to sleep the night in peace......10 long minutes at the counter, while the same old nonsensical items passed through the bar-code reader, their purchasers happy to pay the ridiculous sums with plastic money......."Don't they ask themselves the same question? Don't they say - What did I buy this for?" Anyways, I handed out the 40 bucks for my purchase and rushed toward the exit............ Niranjan stood there with an Auto-wala and a security guard, the stuff loaded onto the auto......."Dekhontu agya, dharma sohiba nahin........Se chup-chap bosuthila, jea chahuthila, se douthila se nouthila, aau kana (See, its such a disgrace, they were quietly sitting there in that corner, whoever felt the need to give them something gave them alms, what harm did they do to you?)" the heated auto-wala directed with all his energy to the security guard........Niranjan shook his head........they had chased them away........trespassers not allowed......Such was the rule of the land........One look at the security guard showed that it was not his fault........He was only obeying orders.......
We took off in search of the outcast pair but didn't see them again....... I clutched the packets of biscuits in my hand and for that moment that packet of 'Parle G' was worth much more than all our other purchases and the 30 kgs of 'FREE' Sugar..........
