Trade Off!

It was 10 A.M. in the morning of a busy weekday...People skirted the famous snack bar "teewari brothers" known for its triangular spicy potato filled deep fried...hot and crisp...dietitian's horror... "samosas" an absolute delight with aromatic and strong shots of masala chai...Before entering the workplace people stop by to grab a quick mid-morning brunch..to give themselves a kick to toil harder...and give their bulging bellies another layer of subcutaneous fat.

I was once sitting there...sipping my tea...when I saw an elegant,voluptuous and vigorous woman walk in with a leather worked tote in one hand and smoothing a lone curl fallen on her face with the other...She was dressed in pure crepe saree with diamond accessories... In the hustle and bustle of the shop I noticed her move gracefully to the counter and ordered the staring man behind the counter to pack 100 samosas ... he did not look pensive and surprised...he was used to getting bulk orders ...so he started to prepare fresh batches of samosas ...she took out crisp currencies from her purse and handed it over to him...paying him the entire sum ,rs 5 per piece...She waited for a while ...and inquired impatiently..."How much more time are you going to take Bhaiya?" to that he informed 50 pieces are done madamji! She said please pack them neatly and take them to my car....the man behind the huge wok full of boiling oil and triangular dumplings ...that looked like a huge black sea...with snow mountains floating in them...yelled at his assistant instructing him to carefully place the basket of 50 samosas in the rear of the fully air conditioned
Ritz...in which she had arrived....Now she turned towards the door and said Bhaiya you pack the rest , I shall come back in a while... he nodded relaxing a bit....Meanwhile I saw her entering the Titan showroom across the street...A little later she walked out of the showroom followed by a lad who carried two huge shopping bags ... they stopped at the window of the tea shop.... she gestured to the samosa wala and shouted ...please hand over the remaining 50 to this boy ...who looked like the sales boy...both man exchanged reassuring glances and the samosa guy...shouted back...u be rest assured madamji I will count and pack the remaining and deliver it to this boy... The woman then sat in the car ... the boy placed the shopping bags full of extravagant watches and smiled coyly at the woman...who handed him a 10 rs note...and instructed her driver to leave... waving at both the men she transacted with.. she looked in no hurry...and soon the car made its way towards the vanishing point where the road seems to merge...
Now , the restaurateur handed over a basket of warm edible prisms ... stating that he has counted them ...exactly 50 ... the boy laughed nervously ...50 what?
he stared at the samosas sizzling and his wrath frizzling...the blow written all over his face... and suddenly he pounced at the samosa wala ... n..nn.. not 50 samosas u moron...50000 in cash...is what that lady meant... To that the samosawal's jaw dropped and he got worked up... do i look like a banker...all i sell here are samosas...and there started a quarrel between them...All of us sitting at the cafeteria were amused and stupefied...at the spectacle...we later learned that the woman had purchased stocks worth Rs 60000 and had paid Rs 10000 to the showroom owner stating that the remaining will be paid by the teewari shop owner...to which unknowingly the snack bar owner complied... but here no one is taking the onus... the crooked ,witty woman tricked the men...and got out with it...
I stood up to leave tickled by the con ... unable to guise my beguilement ...I mumbled to myself that was quiet a trade off!.

Shreeja Jhawar