FIVE RUPEES

Few days back I was travelling in the train. A vendor came selling water. I purchased a bottle of water worth 15 rupees and gave him a twenty rupee currency. The vendor asked for five rupees since he had no five rupee coin and I too did not have and said, “I don’t have.” Then the vendor said, “I am the only vendor selling water in this train and I shall give you back five rupees before you alight the train.” After some time, I wanted to have a cup of coffee and there came another man selling coffee. I asked, “How much” and he said, “Five rupees.” I gave him ten rupee currency. This time too neither I had a five rupees nor he had (!?). He too assured me that he would return my five rupees before I would reach my destination. But to make my confusion still worse, there were several coffee-tea and water vendors. Now my confusion was this, ‘which vendor owes me five rupees?’ Every time a Chaiwala or Paniwala was passing by, I had to pay attention to his identity in which I failed miserably. In fact I asked one chaiwala, “are you the one who owe me my five rupees?” He plainly said, “Sir, I am not. May be another man.” I thought it is better to keep quite than getting humiliated. Till I reached my destination, neither of them came to give my due nor I was able to trace them out.

There was a family sitting next to my berth. When at the time of supper, a vendor came selling Vegetable and Egg Biryani.  He bought two Egg Biryani and one Vegetable Biryani. The Vegetable Biryani costs fifty and Egg Biryani costs sixty rupees. Then only we realized that the same food which we ate at noon was charged more by another vendor. We had purchased the Vegetable Biryani for sixty rupees and Egg Biryani for seventy in the afternoon.  Then I asked him in Hindi language, “yah kaise aap sham ke vakt 50 aur 60 me de rahe hain aur dopahar ko 60 aur 70 rupaye lete hain?” Then he told us that the man who sold the food in the afternoon has taken more from us. This time lucky enough, the man who cheated us in the afternoon came that way and my neighbor held him. Without a second thought he returned his thirty rupees and slipped quietly.

These are not the instances happened to me by chance. These are the experiences of several people who travel often. It is not possible to carry coins every time. Vendors take this opportunity to grab from the passengers. The coffeewala had no five rupee to return to me but he had five rupee when a woman purchased a coffee few berths after me.

This does not mean that there are no honest vendors. There are people who serve you with love and care whose motto is, “the customer’s satisfaction is our satisfaction.” I too have come across several such people. They give the right information and service out of their generosity. But few selfish and dishonest people spoil the good reputation of other good people as it is said, “one rotten potato spoils the whole sack.” All the vendors I encountered in the above incident are from the IRCTC who give quality service to Indian Railways to which I am very much indebted.

One can go up to the grievance’ cell and report about the quality and reliability of the service of its workers. One can say, “Why so much fuss for five rupees? After all, you will have to pay another five hundred rupees in order to get your five rupees.” Thus, looking at the complications involved, one will surely back out. But the issue is, how far we are honest in our dealings?  A person who has enough and more things to do will not be able to spend time for such things. Complaining to the authorities concerned, will earn justice to the afflicted person and a time to correct the behavior of the culprit. It can teach a lesson to others. But again, how long and how far?

We need to raise our voice when someone takes undue advantage over us. It is our right and duty. At the same time we need to question the person when we see the injustice to be done. It may be my five rupees or another person’s five thousand rupees. It may be a piece of land or an acre of land. One may not speak or raise one’s voice due to fear or humiliation. It is our collective duty to safeguard human right, dignity and freedom. 

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