The Rich Rag Picker

He woke up hastily to realize someone had just stepped on one of his wounded leg. He wanted to cry out loud in pain but remained silent and calmed himself. He had cried a lot in the past but no one had paid any heed to his grief. Soon he learned to bear the pain without crying. Releasing the firmly bitten lips and opening the strongly closed eyes, out of reflex, he turned to a big round clock. It was hung at some distance and his sleepy eyes saw the time: 04:45am.

It was a routine wake up call for ‘Radhe’. His name was given by Kishan Bhai, the chai-wala, who found an eight month old child in a train lavatory. Being a diehard fan of Salman Khan and his recent successful movie Tere Naam, inspired Kishan Bhai to name the child ‘Radhe’. The 04:45am local didn’t only wake him up but also made his wound bleed daily. At the age of eight, Radhe started collecting rags and exchanged them for money at Wasim Bhai’s shop. Ever since the police demolished Kishan bhai’s tea stall, Radhe was forced to earn a living and Kishan bhai was forced to sell tea on the platform.

Today he had hit the jackpot. A merchant had plenty left overs. Radhe thanked his God for this great day. Never in his life he had his stomach filled with food so much. Giving away Twenty Six rupees, his highest savings for a day so far, to Kishan Bhai, he went to take a walk. Kishan Bhai’s eyes sparkled seeing currency notes, instead of few coins, which Radhe used to hand him over daily.

This area of the platform didn’t have light, hence no one wanted to stroll here. There were chances of being burgled in the dark. Radhe had nothing to lose, so he always wandered there and used to sleep peacefully. The scorching summer has cool breeze at the night and a clear sky. Moon light on the platform made the concrete glitter. But there was an unusual lustre today. Radhe limped forward and realized that it was an abandoned wallet. A metallic piece, embedded on the leather wallet, reflected the moon’s light. He bent to pick it up and closed his eyes tight due to the pain caused by bending wounded knees.

His wound started bleeding but he ignored as he realized the wallet was not abandoned and had fallen out of a pocket. It was stuffed with plenty thousand rupee notes; he was touching for the first time. He didn’t know how to count them but he was sure that he could buy Kishan Bhai a new tea stall and serve tea to customers himself, like he used to. The rag picking business was dirty and he never liked it. Radhe took out all the notes and spread it in front of him. He collected some stones and kept them over the notes so that they don’t fly away. He found a visiting card inserted in the side and pulled it out. He gazed at it to recall where he had seen the big logo printed on the card. Not paying much attention to it, he pushed the card in his dirty shirt’s pocket. He turned the wallet and found an old black & white picture of a lady in mid-forties. He gazed at the photograph and realized that it was kept very neatly.

Next day Radhe was going to encash his rag at Wasim Bhai’s shop and then would directly go to the station market. He planned to buy a 360° movable steel trolley with two racks in the bottom along with a cupboard and a drawer. He had kept the matter secret to surprise Kishan Bhai. Beside the Wasim Bhai’s shop, there was a tall building. Although, Radhe saw the building daily but today there was something unusual about it. He pulled out the card from his dirty shirt’s pocket and saw the same logo which was also on the building. His hand started shaking and he realized that his knee also hurt. The pleasure of starting a tea stall again had subsided his wounded knee’s pain but it came back now.

“Run!” his eight year old brain yelled but his heart roared “Go ahead.” A drop of tear fell on the visiting card. The vision of Kishan Bhai preparing tea and Radhe serving it started fading as he moved towards the building.

The security guards warned him of the consequences if he didn’t go back. He said that he wanted to meet someone but guards misjudged his clean intention by his dirty clothes. One of them pushed Radhe away and he fell on the stairs. Blood popped out of his wound again and his eyes filled with tears of pain. It was the time for him to leave the building and start preparing for a bright future. Instead, Radhe stood up trembling and handed over the visiting card to the guard. They scanned him top to bottom and one of them went inside the building.

A guy in mid-thirties came out with the guard and a worried face. He stared at Radhe who was standing at the bottom of the staircase. Not bothering to know the purpose of Radhe’s visit he asked him to go away harshly. Radhe took out the wallet from his torn & soiled trouser and threw it on the guy.

Radhe started running away. His knee hurt but he had forgotten all his pain. Tears were rolling on his cheek. He had paid the price of being good to society by choosing to remain a rag picker for rest of his life. He was feeling proud but there was also a pain. He didn’t know if his knee was hurting more or was it his heart ache. Kishan Bhai always taught him to be a nice person and today he had proved to be one.

He heard a loud shout from behind but didn’t bother to turn. He kept running at the same pace. The wallet-guy came from behind and grabbed Radhe’s collar bringing him to a halt. His shirt further tore and the wallet-guy gave an apologetic look. He wanted to thank Radhe, atleast that’s what his eyes said. The wallet had his salary which would feed his widower father and his pregnant wife for that month. He was overwhelmed when he saw the picture of his mother intact in the wallet. The wallet-guy also had tears in his eyes. Suddenly, Radhe had become a life saviour for his family. He didn’t find him dirty anymore and rubbed the hairs on his head. The wallet-guy pulled out a thousand rupee note from his wallet and kept in Radhe’s dirty shirt’s pocket.

So far none among them had spoken to each other but both understood the importance of that wallet in their life. Both of them were happy. Radhe was happy in losing the wallet and the wallet-guy was happy for getting it back again. After silently gazing at each other for a minute, they walked away in opposite directions.