Little Rag Picker
I met my cousin in his scrap material shop during my visit to ancestral land in south Kerala. I will not miss any opportunity to spend time with him as it is always great pleasure even after I fathered two children. Cousin brother has also changed from old gooseberry seller(another one page story) to well-known scrap wholesale merchant in his area. While my cousin getting busy in his work, nostalgic feeling started to resonate in mind.
Like any other day, my daily routine started with great breakfast prepared by lovely mom. Completely deserted playground nearby clearly indicates another boring day. Within no time, my mother appeared on the scene pretending as great saver who could engage me in her day to day house hold chores so that I can escape from boredom. She did not spare my dad as well as he is already busy axing firewood required for next month. Anyway I spare no effort to avoid meeting my father for not to repeat another Atlas and Hercules story.
Encounter
I sneaked into my sweet Grandma’s room and then advanced to her bed. As usual, she began shouting for disturbing her nap but succumbed to my determination at the end. Like camel get his nose under the tent, I soon start ruling her bed space. Finally, she got up and went out to yard. Her sudden departure from war zone initially surprised me as I was expecting similar retaliation from my ‘opponent’ as well. In order to avoid giving her time for planning next strategy, I hugged and kissed in her soft cheek. Yes that really worked out. She soon transformed as Aladdin’s Jinni waiting for my orders.
“I am boring. I want play with you or give me coins to buy some candies”, I asked.
“I don’t have coins but there is way to make it”, she replied hiding he smile under wrinkle lips, and dropped in her chair. “We can make good amount of money by selling scraps inside and scattered around the house”, she encouraged. Without thinking twice, I arranged long sack and start picking up scrap materials from all over the house. Thinking great fortune on my way, I even converted many useful materials inside the house to scrap and unearthed scrap metals from the yard in an hour and even received admiration from grandma for my hard work and determination. Like chocolate chips toppings on Baskin Robbins ice-cream, local scrap merchant visited my house on the same day to whom we sold scrap for 50 Rupees which is more than enough to buy three Biriyani back then. Considering my hard work and dedication, grandma handed over a fair share. I had smile on my face and confidence in the heart when running towards the near by grocery for candies.