Hungry!

Hunger is a universal phenomenon. Some people can stay hungry for a long time and yet act normal. But this is about someone I know who has never controlled hunger in his life. Let's call him S. S led a lavish life as a business man. He never allowed hunger to strike him and given his taste for great food, he had tried everything that's there in Hyderabad, well almost. 

In 1995, One day, a cousin A visited S for three days. On one of those days, he asked S to take him out to Abids because he had some work. They started at 9.00 am. In a hurry, S wore a trouser that was available in front of his eyes and started off. After reaching Abids, he realized that all he had in that trouser's pocket was Rs. 2/-. And 10 notes of Rs.100 and other change were in another trouser's pocket that he wore the previous day.When he realized the truth, he was already at the office of a person they had gone to visit. It was about 9.40 and they had not had breakfast. 

While A and S waited for the man to arrive, S started feeling hungry. By 10.30, he was very very hungry and there was no trace of the man yet. He wanted to find the first way out to a hotel, but then, he had no money except the Rs.2. So, he patiently waited for A to finish his work and decided to ask him later. At 10.55, a peon arrived and informed, "Sahab aaj 2 baje ke baad aate". S let out a sigh of relief and was happy that he is finally getting to go out. S said to A, 'Come, let's go home,'

A said, 'Now, it is 11.00 already. Just a matter of 3 hours, let's watch a movie in Santosh theater and by the time the movie is over, this man will be back,'. S agreed readily, given his craze for movies. S said, 'But first, let us eat something,'. A said, 'Wait, let us buy the tickets first,'. S patiently said, 'ok,' and waited patiently.

They waited in the ticket queue for 10 minutes and by the time they got the tickets, people were being allowed inside the hall. A hurriedly took S inside. S was feeling so hungry that he could've eaten anything. The first thing S did on entering the theater was look towards the canteen. It was locked. Since it was the morning show, no one had arrived yet.  This angered him a lot. S tried to get out of the theater, but A said, 'Hey come, movie is starting!' 

S, with a very sad face entered the hall and sat down. All he could do, was wait for the interval. If only he had not forgotten the money, he would have been in Taj Mahal hotel right across the road. He suffered through the first half of the movie and then, interval happened. In the interval, A took out S to the canteen and said, 'Tell, what do you want to eat?'. S looked around and found that the only thing that could fill his stomach, at least temporarily were Samosas - small ones. S said, 'samosas'.

A asked, 'How much?'. The hawker said, '2 rs. mein chaar'. A took out a Rs.2 coin from his pocket and said, '3 samosa dena'. He took the 50 paise back put it in his pocket and three samosas and offered it to S. S was now so angry that he wanted to slap his cousin. By the time S took one samosa and ate it, A finished both the samosas and was on his way back to the hall. S almost cried. He was now so depressed that his hunger had died. Also, he was so sad that he didn't even want to buy 4 more samosas with the Rs. 2 he had in his pocket. 

The movie ended at 2. They went to the office, met the man, got the work done which took about an hour. S was swimming in a sea of depression. Also, reluctance to ask for money from his cousin, given his self-respect had led him into this situation. Only thing S could think of at that time was food. His stomach burned. He knew home and food were only 10 minutes away. 

When they got home, it was 4 pm already. He stepped inside his house, changed, washed his feet and sat down in the kitchen and screamed, 'Mother, food'. She understood what would have happened and served him. He ate till 5.00 pm. When his stomach was full, he had tears in his yes. When he came back into the hall, A was watching TV. S tried to control his anger. But more than anger, he pitied him for living the whole day without food. He asked A, 'When will you eat?'. A said, 'I ate 2 samosas, I can stay till night'. S didn't know whether to laugh or cry. 

The next morning, A woke up early. While S was still in bed, he looked at him and said, 'Today, let us go to Begum Bazaar!'

- Deepak Karamungikar