Nikku and his bottle of happiness

8Rs 50 paisa, Nikku counted the money and quickly slipped it in the pocket of his pants. He was completely exhausted and his body was reeling under the pain, but still he was more than willing to work for that extra hour today as well. He was doing the same for last few days. Compared to the other labours, he was new to the job and thus the least productive as well. As a 9 years old he could hardly sew 10 bags a day, earning a paltry sum of 20 Rs for his family, Family…for him this meant his mother and his younger brother Raju. His mother, who usually worked as a labour in adjacent construction sites, once in a while she could find the job of house maid but then her love for the kids will overwhelm her honesty and despite knowing the consequences she would steal some food items for the kids and will eventually be thrown out of the ‘houses of those honest persons’.

And then Raju, his beloved younger brother who still goes to the municipal school, who still plays with his friends in the evening… For Nikku, he was living a whole new life in Raju. Late night he used to ask Raju about his day in detail, what was taught? how was the teacher? about his friends.. what did he play? How many runs he made? Whats happening in the neighborhood? and all sorts of things that he missed. Perhaps he was missing too many things, He was missing his Childhood!

India-pakistan series was going on these days, he remember that ‘Gupta Sahab’ allowed the workers(most of them were minors) to see the match for about an hour and after India’s win he even distributed sweets. Nikku brought that laddu back to his place, only to share it with Raju. He could not make much sense out of what happened except that India won and the enemy Pakistan lost, he also jumped and clapped like others did..but all that was empty and hollow.. much like his own existence.

What probably impressed him most was the Pepsi advertisement. The theme of “Yeh Pyaas hai badi” was still afresh in his mind. He was used to work in that 10 by 10 feet room with atleast 15 others in the extreme hot conditions of north Indian summer, and the water tap outside the room was the only source of respite. But now he had seen that image of so many happy persons having that chilled bottle in their hands… probably that’s the reason of their happiness, at least he will be extremely happy to have something like that. He still remembers how cold an ice-cream was when he and Raju shared one last year. Probably this Pepsi is even colder and even sweeter than that. Suddenly all the Pepsi billboards started to make a lot of sense, crates stacked outside local shops were teasing him and looked like they were waiting for the fortunate ones to come and taste them.

He mustered all his courage, waited outside one such shop till the owner got a bit free and then asked “ Paepsi kitneki hai?” (how much will a pepsi cost?)

He looked at him, his eyes were like questioning his shabby clothes, disorganized appearance and to some extent his whole identity as a human being and then with complete rudeness he answered “aath rupe” (8 Rupees) and immediately looked otherway with utter contempt.

8 Rupees, that was the difference between him and a moment that he will really cherish for a long long time.. purchasing something and then enjoying it..like all others, and that too with his own money.

His daily earnings were known to his mother and then they have to arrange for the meals, Raju’s fees, his books, the rent of the kholi ..nothing left on that side.

He then thought of an idea, he will work an hour extra and then while returning he will run hard towards the Kholi so that mother doesn’t suspect much.

Now he was doing this for last one week or so and finally today was the day when he will go to the same shop and the same shopkeeper will have to walk to the fridge and get him ‘his bottle’, after all today he had the money..and was paying the same 8 Rupees as any one of those more or even extremely fortunate ones pay.

It was late in the night, today he was not working overtime so he was walking at his own pace, completely immersed in the thoughts of his bottle of pepsi, How all the heat accumulated in these last few months will get released with those few sips, how and where he will hide the bottle, and then will take Raju out with some excuse to his favorite place..the basement of an under construction ‘Paradise apartment’ (the dimly lit place where no one see him..where he is away from his day to day troubles and can be the old Nikku as he was a few months back), and then how will he surprise Raju with that bottle of Pepsi, They will take their own time in finishing it, He could already see the smile on Raju’s face. He could not wait any longer now!

Everything went as he thought earlier, untill the shopkeeper asked him “Abhi khol doon?”(Shall I open it now?”

Nahi, mujhe de do, ghar par kholoonga (Give tht to me, I’ll open tht at home)

Abe nahi, phir tu 5 Rs bottle ke aur jama kar, kal bottle deke 5 Rs waapas le lena(then gimme 5 Rs extra for the bottle, when you return it, take them bck from me)

He requested a lot and even swore that he will return the bottle ..but all in vain!

He felt extremely stupid, useless and betrayed ..came out of the shop..it seemed that all those hundreds of bottles along with that shopkeeper are laughing at him, a thin layer of tears helped him by obscuring the huge and well-lit billboard of Pepsi, he started to run again, harder than he had ever run.. probably away from this ruthless world ..so that he can weep loudly at the basement of his favorite ‘Paradise apartment’ before returning back to his kholi.