Bon appetit

-

“How much is it for a day?” he asked. When he heard the amount he made some mental calculations and then handed over the crisp notes that would feed all the 20 inmates of that home for one day. He collected the receipt from the grateful lady at the desk and started his bike.

The next day he met his friends at their usual hangout and over their large pizzas and unlimited colas they were having a great time when he suddenly remembered the receipt. “Hey guys I have the receipt of the Helping Hands food payment with me. Let’s pool in the cash guys, I am running dry as I paid for all” he said. “Hold on, let us finish dinner and then we will discuss it” replied his friend.

“Guys I got the bill, its 2890, including taxes, split five ways it is 600 per person including the tip” he said after looking at the bill and making yet another mental calculation. He collected the money from his friends and placed it in the bill fold along with his share and signaled the waiter. Tummy full and feeling satisfied he said “lets finish the other collection also, we are paying for three meals for 20 inmates in Helping Hands for a day and the bill is 2000, split five ways …” his voice trailed off.

Suddenly he felt empty inside.



Comments

  1. mahesh6:06 pm

    Good reflective post on the times we live in.

    So did all friends contribute to fund food for the inmates at Helping Hands?

    Regards,
    Mahesh

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Your take on this?

Popular posts from this blog

Bad donkey, small wall.

-
Image
This was a crude translation of a proverb that comedian Karunas (as pointed out by Chriz ) made famous in one movie. The Tamil original runs thus, “Kazhutha ketta, kutti suvaru” so you have the translation. I heard that line somewhere and I wondered especially having heard the translation as to what could have been the origin of the proverb. Any ideas? PS: I Googled it and did find something.
Read more

Memories of PTC bus journeys!

-
Image
MTC bus today! As I was turning into Haddows road today a MTC bus whizzed by nearly missing a few people on the road as is the norm. Just when I was about to curse the bus and its driver and everybody connected to it, my mind drifted back to the days gone by when I used to travel by these buses. The more my mind drifted, more instances that have been deeply etched in the confines of my memory came out like a mental slideshow. It is amazing how at the most unexpected moments lost thoughts surface and make even poor memory people like me feel good about us. Coming back to the post I thought I will put together a few memorable ones for the record. It was in the days of khaki shorts and white shirts, the old uniform of Dominic Savio Preparatory school (I’m told it has graduated to a matriculation now!) and its bigger sibling St. Bede’s Anglo Indian Higher Secondary School (100 years now, dear school of our hearts). School was a two stop bus ride from home if you got onto a white board bus
Read more

Appa tie, Amma gown

-
Image
This post was spurred by some grammar related conversations in the CBC I   went through college with the tag “Peter” or the longer “Appa tie, amma gown” . If you have not got it yet, my English was flawless and for those who could not follow what I said they thought that this was payback. It was not a fluke, my parents did not have a convent education but they ensure that my brother & I got one. It was an Anglo Indian school where speaking any other language but English meant you ran rounds around the decent sized play ground. My neighbours were Anglo Indians too, a wonderful couple who also taught for a living in my school, did i forget to mention they had two daughters who were similar in age to my brother and me ensuring that we played & grew up together for a few years. As it was English near home and in school my fluency increased. But even this upbringing may not have been enough were it not for one unforgettable instance when I noticed that the washed
Read more