This is a good one. It's not a tale or story but still good one. Okay, so today about half an hour ago, I was at a cigarette shop. I bought a couple of goldflakes for 10 rupees and lighted one of them. There was this gentleman, he was short in height, about my shoulder height and must be in his late fourties.He looked at me and first thing he did was to ask me,"which school do you go to?". I just replied as I was used to, "XYZ School" and the conversation went on something like this and it was in english which is rare in india, a young boy and old man don't usually talk in english and that too in front of a kirana store:
Man: How old are you. You look like you are about 15 or 16 years old.
Me: I am 18 years old.
(truth be told I am 17 but you can just round it about)
Man: What are you doing right now?
Me(in hindi): Well, I passed my school, I mean, am preparing
for...(and then kept quiet)
Man: You know cigarette is not a good thing. You should not waste your parents' money on thing like these. They don't expect this from you. (And all this while I was holding a smile on my face as is my habit when I am talking to people who I think are good and teach me good stuff, stuff that really influences me. That also means I keep a smile while talking to beautiful girls for they influence my brain and hearts more than anything ;P )
Me: (just nodded my head)
Man: You know my son is about 25 years old and he doen't do any of
this thing. You may do whatever you want to with your own money but not with your parents' money. It's not right. Think of what they expect of you.
Me: I understand and I will try to control. Thank you
(It's a habit to say thank you and sorry. I am working on controlling this. I read it somewhere that it is a sign of politeness to use these two words when I was probably in class 5)
Man: You should control it. And don't waste your parents money. You are here to study not to burn their money.
Me: I will keep it in mind. Thank you.
(And I left the place)
And went to my old smoke spot which is where all those school busses are parked when not in use. It is at the far end of a road that starts with meat and fish shops and a 'desi and videshi sharab' shop, while the other end is filled with waste disposed by the colony people. I sat at my place and started smoking thinking of how some unknown people can leave deep impressions on us. I know I wouldn't have got so much influenced by my father or anyone telling me to stop smoking as I was by this strange fellow. Everyone's not bad. There is inherent goodness in some of them. As a matter of fact it is in all of us, it's just that many of us have suppressed this goodness deep somewhere in our hearts.
I came back home, took some rupees from my mom's purse, went to the tea stall, bought a cigarette and a cup of tea. Some bastards never change.
