all in a days work

about a week back, a native guy came into my office for some work. we started talking casually and i came to know that he had just bought a brand new imported toyota camry. but the clothes he wore were total rags and they defied the logic of such a guy affording such a car! even his nature of job was to look after daily routine labor work. i wondered what his part time job could be, because with his main job he simply cant afford such expensive car models.

 

i asked my boss and he gave me an explanation: these people keep their own livestock, dont educate their children, and have no expense of water/gas/electricity or medicine. so whatever they earn, they save! and when they have some hefty amount, they either buy new cars, or get a new wife.

 

today i met that guy again. this time, i started interrogating him. he said he has 3 wives and is getting married again. wow! again! out of curiosity, i asked him which bank does he use to keep his money. he told me a very sad incident. he said he buries his savings in a wooden box in one of his homes. year before last year, he had to dig out the box to take out some money, but somehow ants had made a colony there and the ants had also eaten a big chunk of his currency notes.

 

how very sad. i made my most empathetic face; while my thoughts drifted away… only if ants could have bought lots of gulab jamans rather than gulping the notes…