5. Change...

Once when I was flirting through
The narrow streets of Benares
I chanced upon a beggar
The face of whose said a lot more
Than what his words could
His eyes a velvety green
His forehead glaring with wrinkles
A chin full of beard,
A mouthful of smile.

What was he smiling for,
Wasn't he poorer than me?
He didn't have any clothes to wear,
Was he mocking me ?

"A paisa babu," said the old man,
"I haven't eaten in a day."
I glanced at my designer watch,
"I don't have change" my chest inflated,
Lying through my teeth
Perspiration dripping from my forehead
Wiping it with a silk kerchief.

Suddenly my cellphone rang
The tone, a latest Hollywood theme
The call I was waiting for,
Through my sunglasses
Glaring at the sun; its sin of shining on my face
I looked up and cursed...

Frustrated on the darned fate
That dared to cross my path and
A glimpse of insecurity flushed through my eyes
"It'll be OK babu" he said;
He found the indignant courage of
Looking at my face...

Somewhere from the narrow streets
Brandishing a shiny knife
A devil arrived and broke my pride
As I fell down bloodied, unconscious
My world whizzed around
My life passed my eyes
As I drew a last breath I saw his face again...

The day I regained my sense,
Nowhere was my palace to be seen
Instead a little girl nursing my wounds
Inside a shanty; my senses alarmed
'What does this mean ?'

"Babu you have no family ?"
Asked the girl, as the beggar entered
"We brought you home as no one would"
I felt a rush of sorrow
Mixed with a reappearing disgust
Not for the beggar this time but me,
I would have left a man alone to die too ...

Alarmed at my vice
Searching for redemption
"Baba I lied earlier" I looked down,
"I had money I didn't want to part with"
Overridden with guilt.
"You had no change son,"
The old man smiled down at me,
"Now you have".