Social Short Story – A walk in the rain
Photo credit: hurley_gurlie182 from morguefile.com
It was a cloudy sultry afternoon of August in nagpur, the central part of India. Usually,monsoon in this part of India is moderate,somewhat less than any other part of the country. Gajanan,a poor farmer of Saoner tehsil,had come downtown to procure seeds and some other items for his cultivable land.
He was walking briskly towards the shop,minutely observing each and everything that he came across with,the people,shops,small kiosks and even footpath vendors. His eyebrows frowning now and then. He had come to the town with high hopes of getting good quality seeds along with some agritools which he had also planned to purchase from the town.
The sky was overcasted with black clouds and Gajanan could feel a few small droplets of shower on his face. At last now he has reached the seed store. He sat down on the bench of store wiping perspiration from his rugged face. He often used to visit this seed store and he knew the storekeeper Ramu very well. He sat down before Ramu on a wooden stool and started chatting.The discussion started with climate which later on moved towards politics and other irrelivable topics.
Gajanan,after purchasing seeds decided to move for other small items to a different shop nearby. He bade goodbye to Ramu and moved on. Now,he was in a hurry because the sky had become heavily overcasted and showers had already started coming in. As he moved in the showers,his thoughts rolled back. Every year,he pledged to cultivate his fields diligently and labouriously but at the time of sowing, Dhanraj seth,the village pawnbroker would call him and coax him to take money from him for seed purchase and as usual, Gajanan would fall in Dhanraj’s trap resulting in unnecessary burdens and losses later on.
Gajanan’s wife would always warn him about the forthcoming danger,but he would never listen.He was lost in his thoughts suddenly,a bulky hand patted his shoulder. He glanced quickly over his shoulder and was dumbstruck to see Dhanraj standing behind him. His expression suddenly softened, his face became pale and he could feel his heartbeat throbbing,his voice became sheepish.
He blurted”Oh Dhanraj seth,how come you are here?”.
Dhanraj just narrowed his eyes and said”Don’t worry,just help me put some load in my car’s trunk”.
Gajanan nodded his head in affirmation and followed Dhanraj to his car.
Now,the showers had increased but Gajanan coudn’t feel the sensation of rain,he was lost in his own thoughts…perhaps he will see a little sunlight sometime in his life.
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