If there is one thing I
hate it’s people who borrow one hundred rupees from me and disappear. They
don’t remember to repay the money to me. Neither do I dare to ask them to.
Actually, I feel ashamed to remind the lenders of what they owe to me. But I
have occasionally found myself in confusion on how to deal with such people.
Worrisomely, I feel the number of such people is growing around me.
When a person of
long-time acquaintance met me in the market last weekend, he smiled at me
side-to-side across his face, and approached to shake hands with me. I don’t
remember he has ever regarded me so much before. Therefore, I guessed
immediately by judging his body language that there was something wrong in him.
Holding my right hand tightly in his both hands he asked me for a hundred-rupee
note. Looking at my puzzled face he grinned at me with his blackened teeth in
betel nut-reeking-mouth, and said, “I promise I’ll return it to you within twenty
four hours.”
When I was left
hesitated and speechless for a while, he repeated his demand saying that he had
hungry belly but no money at the moment. What could I do? I felt ashamed of
myself for delaying in giving him the money and also for having such a pauper
as a friend who rides on a pulsar bike and keeps himself updated with fashionable
clothes but doesn’t carry a hundred-rupee note in his wallet. If I didn’t
fulfill his demand, he would certainly be angry, and one more name would be
added in the list of my known-unknown enemies. If I did, I would surely lose
one hundred rupees from my hard-earned monthly budget. Both situations were not
favourable to me.
At last, I decided to
choose the second option because it was less risky for me. Then, silently, I
took a light-green bill with a picture of one-horned rhino out of my wallet and
gave to him. He snatched the bill off my hand and grinned at me once more as if
he was saying ‘thank you’ to me. Then, he hurriedly entered a nearby motel to
eat samosaa and chholaa. I, helpless and frustrated, looked at him go into the
motel and left the scene.
I remember another
friend whom I lost last year after I had lent him two hundred rupees. We had
been teaching at an institute for some days when he wanted to borrow the money
from me. We were very close friends as former colleagues at a school.
‘Do
you have two hundred rupees?’ he asked me one day.
‘Why?’
I replied him generously, ‘You can borrow from me if you need the money.’
‘All
right, I’ll return you the money tomorrow.’
Many
tomorrows passed away. I waited for my friend to remember that he had borrowed
two hundred rupees from me. But he never remembered it. I felt shy for
reminding him about the money. Surprisingly, the friend stopped visiting my
house and started avoiding me from that day. I am shocked at the sudden change
in his behavior, but still I don’t have courage to remind him of my debt.