Nincompoop Diaries

Introduction

Nincompoop Diaries is a series of short stories where we follow a teenage gang through some of their most interesting encounters. Inspired from my childhood experiences, Noncompoop Diaries will have a perfect blend of facts and fiction. I hope this turns out to be an enjoyable read for you and this make you smile sometimes & laugh out loud sometimes. These short stories will be published in this blog in regular intervals and I will keep the momentum going, please continue sending in your comments & feedback.

This series is dedicated to all the nincompoops who grew up with this nincompoop and have inspired Nincompoop Diaries.

          

The Area

This locality situated in the northern part of a small town in Tamil Nadu referred to as “The Area,” is popular for two reasons – Cricket & Gang fights. Like the chicken and the egg story, its difficult to say which one came first, the cricket or the gang fight. A cricket match would lead to a gang fight which will again end up in a cricket match, however in all probability the initial cricket match itself would have been a result of a gang fight.

What started off three generations ago as a teacher’s colony, now houses the three most notorious gangs of this small town. While the first gang holds together a group of guys in their mid 20s, the second and third gangs contain a bunch of guys in their mid & late teens and a bunch of guys in their early teens respectively. The senior most gang takes every cricket match and gang fight way too serious and the junior most gang takes every cricket match and gang fight way too casual. That leaves us with the gang of guys in their mid and late teens, this gang manages to have a perfect blend of the other two gangs making it the funniest among the three. That brings us to the reason why we are here, we are going to explore the exciting encounters of this gang. But before we get into their lives, its imperitive that we familiarise ourselves with the characters and the lingos of this gang.

Bullet – This guy is the un pronounced leader of the gang. This guy will run faster than a speeding bullet when his dad or mom spots him hanging out with his friends.

Disguise – This guy has a mole in his cheek hence the nick name disguise.

Intelligent Fruit - This guy is one of the biggest comedy reliefs of the gang, he keeps coming up with stupid jokes on everything regardless of the place and situation. His original nick name was Gnanapazham, which means the fruit of knowledge in tamil. The english guy did a somewhat literal translation and named him the intelligent fruit.

The English Guy – This guy is way too obsessed with the english language, he reads a lot of english magazines  / novels and keeps using new phrases he comes across. In most cases, he won’t exactly remember the phrases and end up saying it wrong and when ever he remembers the exact phrase no one around him will understand.

Goat – The hair on his chin makes this guys look like a goat hence the name Goat.

Chicken – He is the most improtant guy in every gang fight, he never hits anybody but will make sure he is there to witness each and every gang fight. He stands in as the umpire in most of the cricket matches as well.

Rabbit – This guy's actual name is Murugesh and his father has 3 rabbits as pets. Since there was another Murugesh in the same colony, he was referred to as Rabbit Murugesh and with time the name shortened to just rabbit.

Road Runner – This guy borrows his uncle’s moped everynight and goes around the area honking. Everytime he honks, he honks twice like the Looney Tunes Cartoon character Road Runner. Hence the name.

Mosquito – This guy is simply the tinyest in the gang.

Robin Hood – This guy has an obsession towards guns and keeps collecting all kinds of toy guns. He always carries a gun with him and generally shoots people around when he is happy or sad or angry. His guns are never loaded but he makes the ‘Bang!’sound everytime he fires which is supposed to kill people.

Eye Thousand – This is the only guy in the gang who wears glasses and friends started calling him kanaayiram which in tamil means the one with a thousand eyes. The name was later translated as eye thousand by The English Guy.

Cannibal: This guy is the most mannerless and merciless in the gang, hence the name.


Sparrow: This guy's hair resembles a sparrow's nest, hence the name.

Cerelac Holmes: Everytime somebody in the gang gets beaten up alone by a different gang, this guy will ask a thousand questions as if he was a detective and he is trying to solve a murder case. The initial name proposed was Sherlock Holmes, but considering his baby face they gave him the name Cerelac Holmes.

Samantha Fox - She is the babe of the area. Once the english guy passed a comment stating she looks like Samantha Fox and as usual no one understood him. Intelligent fruit then clarified it to everyone saying, "You people don't know Samantha Fox? Its a very dangerous animal that lives in African forests."

Cylinder - She is Samantha Fox's friend and neighbour, she could be mistaken for an LPG cylinder if she comes out in a red outfit.

Ku – This guy's name is Kumar, people call him ku. Not because they like him but because ku is the widely accepted and recognised short form for one of the most popular swear words in tamil. Ku does not belong to this gang but he is the legal consultant for all three gangs. He spends most of his time in the court appearing as a fake witness.

Batman & Robin - This phrase is used to refer the strike and the non strike in the cricket game.

Teespty - Teespty is nothing but the coloqual form for TVS 50, the most popular two wheeler at that time. If one keeps saying TVS 50 continuously for a day or or two, he will eventually end up saying teespty.

Panchayat - This term is used to refer to a prescheduled gang fight that has been mutually agreed by both parties to settle dispites.

Panchayat Match - This term is used to refer to a prescheduled gang fight that has been mutually agreed by both parties to settle disputes.

The Hangout - The chai shop besides the main entrance of the area is the place where this group meets up. This is the place the gang spends most of its waking time.

Pi R Square - This is the code used by this gang for 'The Area.' Since the locality is kind of circular in shape, intelligent fruit came up with this name.

Machi - The tamil equivalent of buddy or pal. This is a phrase that is most commonly used by all.


Dey / Dai - These phrases are also used to address members of the gang.


Mouth - Mouth means death. For Example: Once Road Runner was explaining his experience riding his uncle's teespty - "Machi, i was going full speed in my uncle's teespty and I was turning like a race bike near that S-Bend, suddenly an old man in a cycle came in front. For a minute i thought the old man became mouth. Then I applied hand break and stopped the teespty." Now, you must be wondering about the hand break in a TVS 50. Well if both the breaks are working fine, you apply the break with your hands to stop the vehicle hence hand break. In case both the breaks aren't working you use you legs to stop the vehicle - leg break.


Lungi Time - While playing cricket or during a gang fight if anyone's lungi loosens up, one can call for a lungi time where the cricket match or gang fight is paused for 60 seconds which is sufficient enough to retie the lungi and then fold it in half and tie it. No pausing for lungi time during a cricket match or a gang fight leads to a Panchayat or a Panchayat Match.

 
What makes this gang the funniest and the most notorious is that they are extremely unpredictable. One can never say why the gang gets involved in a gang fight or a cricket match. There was once a situation when a woman almost took the gang to the police station because they beat up the woman's son. When the woman threatened to call the cops, Sparrow called Ku. Ku settled the dispute and when he asked why they beat this guy up, Cannibal explained, "The guy was walking towards the provision store and suddenly fell down." "So?" asked Ku still trying to figure out what happened. "How can he fall off like that while walking? He should walk properly right? That's why we beat him up" said Cannibal and the chicken confirmed that is exactly what had happened. There was once the gang got into a Panchayat Match with another gang because they had a dispute on whether Ramarajan was the biggest loser or T Rajender (both are self proclaimed superstarts in Tamil Film Industry).

In the next few editions we will explore the adventures of these nincompoops.

(Note: Images in this article are randomly picked from the world wide web.)

Flat Tyre at the Pit Stop

(A Short Story)

It’s been a hectic week at work, with each day getting worse than the other. We were at the brink of concluding one of the massive projects ever attempted in the country in the recent times. No one has tried something of this magnitude with such aggressive time lines before. This project will boost my resume such that I can just walk into any organisation and print my own appointment letter!


I have been on marathon meetings the whole day and I was desperate for a smoke and a cup of tea. My frustration level went up when I got to know that I’d left my cigarette pack at home that day. It was in the least of my intentions and interests to be seen in office after working non stop for 14 hours especially considering that I started work at 4AM, which is very unusual.

I wasted no time in leaving my floor but just when I got closer to my car at the basement, I was apprehended by a colleague for about 15 minutes. This dude was thanking me for roping him into this project and what a great learning experience it was blah blah blah. I artificially simulated certain body languages to subtly tell him that he is chewing my brains / wasting my time but I don’t think he caught any of it. I even tried yawning a couple of times but it was of no use, those 15 minutes felt like fifteen years! So just when the sixteenth year started, I told him I’m, getting late and could wait no longer, I finally fled!

There is this chai shop on my way home where I’ve made quite a few pit stops in the past, mostly for cigarettes and tea. Like Naseeruddin Shah says in ‘A Wednesday’ there are some people you don’t know by name but just by a Hi & a Hello, that’s the kind of relationship I share with this guy who runs this chai shop.

I was put through a series of ‘tests of patience’ from signal to signal, as if crawling inch by inch in one of the most powerful cars in the country wasn’t a punishment enough. At the speed at which the traffic was moving, one could update their Facebook status message at least 5 times between each signal. Talking of Facebook, I pulled out my blackberry to kill some time. While I was waiting for the traffic lights to turn green, I managed to sign 3 petitions for green peace, one for BT Brinjal, one opposing the Dharma Port project in Orissa and one against the nuclear liability bill.

Finally I got to the pit stop, got myself a 20s pack kings and a cup of chai, man it felt so great. The guy at the chai shop just started making hot bajjis and vadas that tempted me to stay back and grab a few bites. Well considering how hungry I was I would actually need to have kilo bites and mega bites! I also thought I’ll get the puncture done on my spare wheel that I have been putting off for months now. While the guy at the chai shop was busy making bajjis and vadas, I walked across the road to this mechanic shop to get the guy to come over and fix my spare wheel.


The guy at the mechanic shop looked pretty decent and knowledgeable, must have done a diploma in automobile engineering I guess. After listening to me patiently, he smiled and said he’ll send his boy in a couple of minutes to get the spare wheel from my car. His shop looked pretty well equipped and clean. As I walked back to the tea stall, ordered my snacks and went over to my car to open the boot and have it ready, I saw this small kid emerge out of the mechanic shop.

He must be about 10 – 12 years of age and was holding a long spanner in one hand that made him look like a cricketer walking out of the dugout with a mongoose bat. He wore a Chennai Super Kings T-Shirt and from the Reebok branding on the t-shirt one could easily conclude that it was picked up from a roadside seller. There were a few glimpses of bright yellow still visible in the grease tainted t-shirt. The kid carefully crossed the road and came over to my car; he appeared weak, probably malnourished. It looked like the black thread he’d tied on his right arm gave him more strength than the meal he gets to eat everyday.

The Kid greeted me with a smile just like the owner of the mechanic shop, I said to my self “reflection of the manager!” He peeped into my car’s boot and tried to pull the spare wheel out and I must say it was bit of a struggle for him. Presuming it’s too heavy for him, I helped him out with getting the wheel out of the boot. He rolled the wheel back to the shop and started working on it along with his boss.

By then my snack was ready, as I munched through the bhajjis and vada I was watching the kid and his boss fix my wheel. The kid first looked for any nails on the tyre, removed all the small stones stuck to the tyre and skilfully opened the tyre and started working on the puncture. It looked like the kid was very well trained and is a professional at what he did. While he was at it, a motorist stopped by and asked the kid to help with tightening the breaks. The kid helped the motorist with a smile and did not take money for what he did. I could see that the kid and his boss were exchanging a few laughs as they worked through the puncture, looks like that kid has been working there for quite some time. I was wondering why that guy would employ a kid in his mechanic shop. I mean the guy looked pretty decent and educated, doesn’t he know that child labour is illegal? I was now curious to find out if that kid actually works there or if he is the owner’s relative who helps him out in between school.

In a few minutes, the kid was back with my spare wheel, as we were putting the wheel back into the boot, I started a conversation with him in the local language,

“Do you work here?”
“________”
“You don’t go to school?”
“________”

The kid just put my wheel back in the boot, did not look me in the eye and walked back straight into his shop without uttering a word to me or to his boss. He sat beside his boss and started working on an old car battery. The guy at the chai shop then told me that the kid works there and he does not go to school.

I walked over to the kid’s boss and paid him for the puncture; I then reached out to the kid and gave him 50 bucks. To my astonishment the kid refused to take the money, I tried telling him that I liked his work that’s why I’m tipping him but he bluntly asked me to pay his boss if that was the case.

As I walked back to my car, I was feeling bad for the kid. Such a nice kid – honest and hardworking, I thought he definitely deserves better things in life. I’m sure if we put this guy in school, he will do a fabulous job. I don’t know why I felt that way but sometimes you get that hunch when you look at people and that turns out to be so damn right later. Wanting to do something for this kid, I was trying really hard to remember the child help line number, I remember seeing those numbers put up inside town buses during my collage days but darn I can’t remember it now.

I thought it would be better if I simply called the cops than trusting my memory, I made the call. A little later did I realise that I could’ve looked up the Child Helpline number on Google, sometimes my thought process is so old fashioned. Nevertheless, I’ve called the cops and I was sure they will inform the child relief authorities. I was just thinking, these are the kids who grow up as illiterates and evolve into extremists or terrorists.

The person I spoke to, took details of the location, description of the shop, owner, kid and my discussion with the kid. He asked me to wait there till the cops arrived, so I ordered for some more snacks and waited. The cops where there in less than 15 minutes, I was impressed! They walked straight to the mechanic shop and in no time the owner and the kid were in the back of the jeep.

One of the cops pulled out his cell phone, dialled some number and started looking around as he waited for the number to get connected. Assuming he was looking for me, I walked up to the cop. As I got closer to him my phone rang, the cop called out my name upon seeing me and I confirmed that it was me who made that phone call. The cop thanked me and was about to take leave but I held him back for a small Q & A session.

I asked the cop, what’s next and the cop confirmed that they will do an enquiry with the boss and the kid and based on their responses they will take the necessary action. I asked him if they are going to refer the kid to child relief or something, the cop said in some cases yes, but it depends on how the enquiry goes. He told me that generally they take such kids back to their homes, counsel their parents and probably watch over that kid for a few days. In either case they will inform me on what happened. I thanked the cop and got back to crawling between signals.

Work continued to be hectic, a week passed by and I haven’t heard from the cop yet, nor did I try to find out what happened. I did not have any case number and I hadn’t saved that cop’s phone number as well. All I knew was that cop’s name was Rajashekar, pretty common name for a cop! I thought I should call up 100 once I get home that night and see if they can provide me any details.

The day was tiring enough, more so because I forgot to have lunch again. I left office a bit early and went over to my pit stop. It took me 30 minutes to get to the chai shop, with a total driving time of 5 minutes and a total ‘signal wait time’ of 25 minutes. After I got my cigarettes and chai, I asked the chai shop owner if he knows what happened to the kid. The guy said he was not sure what happened to the kid but the owner of the mechanic shop came back couple of hours after the cops took him that evening. I was certain that the mechanic bribed the cops and got out.

I shouldn’t have called the cops, the guy who should be punished got away easily and now no news of the kid. I was upset, I started to wonder what kind of society we live in, how irresponsible and selfish people can be, so on and so forth. While I sat there and wondered what I should do next, I heard a loud noise followed by my car’s auto cop siren. I turned around and realised that the noise came from my windscreen when it cracked. I saw that kid who used to work in the mechanic shop running towards my car from behind a tree. As he ran past my car, he scratched the car from head to tail on one side with a stone and fled.

I was furious, I tried to help that stupid kid and he smashes my car!? The kid ran so fast that I did not have anytime to react but just stare at the cracked windscreen and the scratch. Suddenly the chai shop’s occupancy went up with more bums on benches. All sitting with a glass of chai and wondering what happened to my car. Some of them were reacting as if it was their car; I actually checked the license plate, just to be sure.

It was already quarter past six and I wasn’t sure if the service station was still open and if they could fix the windscreen the same day. I was already having a tough time and the last person I wanted to face came over and stood beside me – the mechanic! I did feel a bit awkward and a bit scared but thought its better I break the ice with this guy. So I told him,

“Sorry about what happened the other day; I didn’t mean to get you in trouble but was simply worried about the kid.”

“It’s ok Sir. It wasn’t a big problem for me either. 50 bucks I paid the cop and he let me go in a couple of hours. I know you are wondering why that kid will smash your car when all you did was to help the kid”

“Yes! Absolutely, why doesn’t the kid see what I’m trying to do for him?”

“Its simple, his family was having 3 three meals a day till the time this kid was working in my mechanic shed. After the cops got involved, I can’t employ this kid anymore, nor can the kid be seen working anywhere else – the cops are watching us. Now the kid’s family only gets to eat two meals a day. You are thinking of the future but the kid and his family need to live for the day. If his parents had to start funding this kid’s education how are they going to feed the family? I hope you now understand the kid’s anger.”

“_______.”

I walked back to my car without saying a word; I did not have an answer to the mechanic’s question nor did I have a solution to the kid’s problem. For the first time in my life I felt ashamed of the same thing that I felt proud of a week ago. Life teaches us lessons the hard way; I just wished it did not teach me a lesson at the cost of someone else’s livelihood. I was clear in my mind that I will work on providing a sensible contribution from now on, I don’t know how yet, but I will.

Eggs

A short story


“It’s been 45 minutes since this guy went to the shop to get eggs and he’s not returned yet. Even if he had to crawl all the way to the store he should’ve been back by now. Wonder where this guy has gone.” Bharathi was getting anxious; she was expecting some guests for lunch she just had enough time to cook something before they could show up. With most of the cooking done, she was waiting for her son to get back from the store with the eggs. Just when she thought of locking the house and going to the store herself to get some eggs, she heard the door bell ring.

Bharathi just hoped that it wasn’t the guests, she opened the door and there stood her son Vinay, with a plastic bag in one hand and his G I Joe toy in the other.

“Where the hell have you been? What took you so long to just get the eggs from the store? Where have you been loafing around? Every time you go to the store to buy something it’s the same nonsense. I hope at least today you brought the eggs without breaking them.” As Bharathi took the plastic bag from Vinay while she was still venting our her frustration on him there was another shock that awaited.

“Again the eggs are broken, can’t you be careful with the eggs at least once? IDIOT. Being a 12 year old kid if you can’t even do such simple things, I don’t know what kind of a guy you are. Don’t you have any shame? I’m tired of tell you the same thing over and over again.” Vinay however didn’t seem to be bothered much of what his mom was saying but was staring at his other G I Joe toys on the table.

“I should’ve gone to the store myself instead of sending this idiot. This guy is good for nothing” Bharathi stormed into the kitchen as she was shouting at Vinay. Vinay removed his glasses, kept it on the table, sat at a corner and started playing with his G I Joe Toys.

Bharathi managed to cook something by adding some sliced tomatoes and capsicums to the two eggs that were still intact. Before she was done cooking, she heard the door bell again and this time she was certain that the guests have arrived. It was another anxious moment for Bharathi as she opened the door thinking the guests have arrived, but she was greeted by a granny.

“Yes. Can I help you?” asked Bharathi, still wonder who the granny was.
“Is there a small boy in your house? One with specs?” Vinay came over to the door hearing the granny’s voice, he smiled at her as he peeped out of the door. Bharathi was a bit surprised and confused with what was going on.
“Yes. What’s the matter?”

“Well. I stay in the adjacent street. I’d bought my provision from the store and was struggling to carry the bags. This kid walked up to me and offered to carry the bags to my house. So I handed over my bags to this kid and I took his bag and we were walking home. As we got closer to my house I dropped his bag accidentally and the eggs broke. I told him I’ll go back to the store and buy some eggs for him but he said its ok, he needs to get home. When I asked him if his mom will scold him, he said ‘ya she’ll shout at me but it’s ok.’ Before I could check if there were any eggs in my fridge that I could spare the kid left.”

“Oh is it?” Bharathi was listening with patience.
“I felt bad and I was worried that you might scold him so I enquired in the neighborhood and found out your house, thought I’ll at least tell you what happened. It took me some time to get here as I had difficulty climbing the stairs.”
“oh no, that’s ok. Thanks. Please come in.”
“It’s all right; I’ll come some other time. See you kid.” The granny left as Vinay waived her good bye with a smile.

Bharathi closed the door, looked at Vinay and asked, “You couldn’t open your mouth and tell me?” as she stormed back into the kitchen to complete the cooking. Vinay returned back to the corner and continued playing with his G I Joe toys as if nothing happened!

The Indian Donut

A Short Story

It was small tea stall, about 23 kilometers from Chennai City on the way to Bangalore. While the morning news in the radio was at the best of its decibel, the villagers sitting at the tea stall had evenly distributed the pages of Daily Thanthi amongst themselves in an attempt to validate the radio news. A few were interested in knowing where the country is headed while the rest had much more important things like gossips, Kanni theevu (translated virgin islands) and Sindbad cartoon strips to catch up on.


The guy at the kitchen was busy filling and refilling the empty glasses with beverages, with unimaginable speed and accuracy. A kid, about 10 or 12 years of age, was busy sweeping the place around. The number of cigarette butts thrown around kind of gave an impression that the tea stall was in the middle of an ash tray.

A little away from the crowd stood an old man, with a stick in one hand and an empty vessel in the other, staring at the crowd with a hope that one of them will take care of his breakfast. The old man was wearing a torn full sleeve shirt and dark brown trousers that was of uneven length. He didn’t have any shoes but had wrapped a cloth to his feet. The dirt on his body, his beard, his uncombed hair and dull eyes indicated that he is one among the thousands in this country who live on others generosity.

It was safe to assume that it would’ve been two days since he had his last meal as he could barely stand on his own for long. For a man who stood there amidst the early morning cold breeze with a bit of shiver in his body and a lot of hope in his eyes, the only thing he managed to get was a half smoked and still lit cigarette that someone had thrown away in a hurry to leave. The old man took the cigarette in his hand, had a couple of drags, put if off and safely kept the remaining cigarette in his shirt pocket. Who knows if something like this will ever come his way again. The people in the tea stall were indulged in their own activities as if this old man was either invisible or as if he was a billboard on the side of the road.

A black Hyundai Accent drove in and parked in front of the tea stall amidst the trucks that were parked there. As the doors of the car opened, the loud music that was playing in the car grabbed the attention of the people at the tea stall. Two men walked out of the car and came up to the counter in the tea stall; they were comfortably dressed in shorts and t-shirts. The people at the tea stall looked at the two men as if they were aliens and since the Hyundai Accent had a KA registration, couple of them at the tea stall even gave them a dirty stare. Not seemed to be bothered by any of this, the two men started ordering their snacks & beverages.

“Boss, two chai. Should be Strong.”
“Raghu, you’ll have an Indian Donut?”
“Indian Donut?!”
“Well, they call it the Vada.”
“oh no I don’t want.”
“ok. Boss one vada.” The guy at the tea stall handed over a vada wrapped in a piece of newspaper.
“Thanks. how is the road from here?”
“It’s good, the road was made very latest.”

Raghu took the match box from the shopkeeper, lit his cigarette and picked up his tea glass as he waked to the side of the tea stall with Sethu.

“Sethu, how do you think our presentation went? Do you think we’ll get this
business?”
“Well the way those guys reacted to our presentation, I guess they were convinced but the problem is they are going to talk to some more vendors before they leave India. If this deal comes through we have a very good chance to move to the next level.”
“Hmm that will happen only if our senior management folks don’t come up with some stupid stuff on pricing and project planning.”
“That is there, because of some idiots in the top we've lost so many deals at the last moment. If our company continues at this rate we’ll never be able to move to the next level.”
“I’ll see for another 6 months, if things don’t progress I’ll quit my job and join Maniratnam as an assistant director.”
“Well if you didn’t know, Maniratnam has planned to make one more movie after which he will retire and settle down in Kodaikanal.”
“Aw God.”

Sethu noticed the old man who stood at a distance and watched them, as he reached out to his wallet, the old man walked up to Sethu with a hope of getting something. Sethu pulled out a 50/- rupee note from his wallet and handed over the same to the old man. Raghu appeared a bit confused seeing this,

“You gave 50 bucks to the beggar! That’s a little too much.”
“Why what’s wrong?”
“Look at this guy, he is not handicapped. He could very well work somewhere and earn his bread rather than standing in the street and begging.”
“Look at him, the only kind of job he can get are the ones that require physical labor. Looking at his age, no one would employ him? So for elderly people like him the only hope is the money they get from people like us. That's why.”
“Ya you are right, why did I not look at it this way? Let me also do the right thing by giving the guy another 50 bucks.”

The old man thanked Sethu & Raghu by putting his hands together and raising his hands above his head (that’s one way of thanking people in India).

“What is your name?” Raghu asked the old man.
“Mahadevan.” said the old man in his trembling voice.
“Mahadevan is an old fashioned name, change it to Madhavan it will be more stylish.”
“Started, don’t get too hyper mate?”
“Sethu, let me stand with him can you take a picture of the both of us?”

As Sethu pulled out his phone to take a picture Raghu put his arm around the old man’s shoulder and got ready for the picture. While Raghu was smiling for the camera, the old man was staring at the money in his hand and smiling. Sethu and Raghu showed the photograph to the old man, paid for their tea & vada and returned to their car. With the money in his hand, the old man didn’t seem to pay attention to anything that was happening around him. He surely didn’t pay attention to Raghu waiving from the car as they left or the guy who said “What luck for the beggar” as he left the tea stall.

The old man walked straight to the tea stall staring at the vadas he’s been staring at for a long time now. As he stood there staring at the vadas without blinking his eyes, the guy at the tea stall appeared a bit uncomfortable having the old man there.

“Hey old man, you’re back again to ruin my business? Go away from here, stand in that corner, I’ll give you something later.” The old man didn’t move an inch, it appeared as though he didn’t hear a word the shopkeeper said.
“Listen up old man. What do you want?” screamed the shopkeeper. The old man
handed over the two 50/- rupee notes to the shopkeeper while he was still staring at the vadas.
“Look at his luck, for a guy who doesn’t even know what money is. Here take these vadas and here is the change. Happy?” said the shopkeeper as he took the two 50/- rupee notes from the old man and handed over a vada and a two rupee coin in return. He then put the two 50/- rupee notes in his shirt pocket and resumed his work.

Happy with the fact that he got something to eat and that the shopkeeper gave him some money back, Mahadevan waived at some random black car that passed by, with a big smile in his face.