Friendship lost

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.