The Patna sun was melting the city down. The wind felt like the fire breath of a dragon.
Only two weeks ago, Sunil's son took him to a nearby temple. His son said he was going to get a few sweets to offer to the goddess but he never came back. Since then, Sunil had been looking for someplace where he could sit without being frowned upon.
Roaming the narrow streets of the city, it was beside Seema's tea stall where Sunil found a spot where he could sit down and rest for a while without anyone bothering him.
Seema was ... a character. She was cranky and old and skilled at bookkeeping. Her furrowed brows would shoo away at least ten customers a day. She too had been abandoned by her children and this tea stall was her only means of living. A poor boy worked at the stall to earn a few extra rupees. His name was Animesh.
After coming back from school, he never got the rest other children did. Instead Animesh would change and go straight to the tea stall to help Seema at a daily wage basis.
One day, while serving tea to a customer in his car, Animesh spotted Sunil, a frail old man with parched lips, wearing a pair of crooked glasses. He was sitting on a couple of bricks kept by the stall.
Usually someone would end up giving Sunil something or the other to eat looking at the poor old hag, but it had been three days since he had had nothing to eat.
Animesh went to Sunil to check on him. Sunil, with his teary eyes, looked up and requested for something to eat.
Animesh felt pity. He went back to the stall and sneaked out a biscuit and a cup of tea for the hag.
Sunil felt very fulfilled just by seeing the eatables.
Soon this became a daily habit. Almost a month had passed without Seema noticing this.
At the end of the month, when Seema sat down with the monthly expenses and income, she easily found a difference of ₹250.
The next day, Seema questioned Animesh about the same but he refused to answer. She knew something was wrong.
After a couple of sharp pinches on his arm, he spilled the truth.
Seema turned red and started to beat him up with her slipper. She got rid of him and refused to pay his monthly wage.
Animesh went home crying, knowing that he wouldn't be able to give his parents that ₹100 extra every month.
Sunil saw this and felt really bad. The next day, Sunil went to talk to Seema. He narrated what tragic events had happened in his life.…