“Pick that leaf, it has more food”
“I got one”
“Wow! There is a sweet in this leaf”
A group of rag pickers were digging the trashcan outside a marriage hall. This is a typical scene which can be seen outside every marriage hall in India.
“Wow! Sinji look at that lady, she has so many gold ornaments all over her body. How I wish I had so much”
“Kanji, those people have so much of wealth but they are never happy like us.”
“Like us? Look at us, we beg for food and eat from garbage trash, look at her she eats in cool room and goes in a car”
“Kanji, she might be going by car and eating the richest food on earth, but in the night she will not sleep happily like us, nor will she snore like you ha, ha”
“Snore!! I never snore. How I wish I were like her”
And they walked away to their platform where they slept everyday with other people of their clan. That night Kanji had a lot of dreams.
Next day had a lot of surprises waiting for Kanji. They walked on the road looking out for dustbins for their breakfast. They spotted one outside a huge bungalow. They sat and relished the food. Suddenly a fat man, dressed in white dress walked out of the house, and he watched Kanji for some time and drove away. After some time a tall man came out of the house and called them both inside. What the man said was like a dream come true. He said that the man who was dressed in white was a film director and that he liked Kanji a lot, and that she would suit very much for his character, in his current project. He had asked his assistant to bring her to the shooting spot, if she was interested.
Sinji could see the excitement in her eyes and so he never opposed to that offer, while Kanji was more than willing to take it up. The assistant gave her good clothes to wear and took her in an AC car to the studio.
There they met the man in white dress, “What is your name?”
“Kanji sir”
“what sort of name is that?”
“That’s my Goddess’ name sir” and she smiled.
“From today your name is Kanchana, I will make you a star, but you need to do all that I say. Will you?” She nodded her head like a goat which was just about to be butchered. From that day her life changed.
In few months, she bought a new house and a car. While Sinji just remained with her and didn’t enjoy that life. He heard many a things about her. That she had slept with the director to sign up for the next movie, and also she had a secret relationship with a hero. But he never believed all that, he trusted her so much.
Until one day when her photograph with one of the movie hero was published in all the newspaper. Sinji was wild with fury that day he took the newspaper to the watchman and asked him to read it. “Sir” he scratched his head as if he hesitated to read the news. “It says that Kanchana madam has an affair with this hero and that she is going to marry him”
Sinji waited for Kanji to come home. It was too late when she returned from shoot that day.
“Kanji”
“Sinji I am very tired please let me sleep”
“you have to answer this” and he threw the newspaper at her.
“Do you believe this? I am a star, people will talk like this, you can’t believe everything” and they fought for a long time.
Next morning Sinji was not found in the house. He went back to the platform. Though Kanji tried to convince him he never came back home. “This is the limit I won’t beg you anymore” and she left him on the platform. She became busy with her life. Sinji heard lots about Kanji every day. The newspapers even described her to be a prostitute in the film industry.
One day Sinji sat outside a marriage hall with his clan and picked up the leaves to find food. He saw Kanji walk out of the marriage hall she was dressed in gold from head to toe, in fact more than the lady whom they saw few days before. She sat in an AC car and drove.
As she drove she saw Sinji, she peeped out of the window. That night she could not sleep… and that was not the only night.
–END–
