Choices

CHAPTER | 6

The two claps on the streets got a smile on Vijay's face. He had never thought that a sound so common and least focused on, could make him feel smug and arrogant at the same time.

He knew the reason behind it was not the unusual sound, but the face behind it. Never in his dreams he had thought that he would want to be friends with a transgender.

Vijay turned around to see his usual guy walking towards the vehicles that stood in front of him and collect coins. When it was Vijay's turn to hand out a few coins, the guy in front of him, made a face and turned around without a second glance.

"Hey!" Vijay called.

Though there were many superstitions that told that making these hijras feel out of place would come haunting in dire times, Vijay had never underestimated it until the said transgender had started to avoid him.

He had seen the guy turn into a mini devil when his customers didn't give money and now, when Vijay was ready to give him money, he was refusing? Was it a befalling of a curse on top of his head?

"Take this!" Vijay tried again, but the guy had turned deaf ear to him. "Okay, I need a good luck charm. Please, I have a presentation today."

It was the last straw, Vijay mused. No transgender would ever evade that line and he knew it. Good luck always meant that there was a need to hire hijras and make them happy to get your way. And no transgender would refuse it and this guy was no different.

Collecting a coin from the rikshaw driver, the hijra walked back towards Vijay with an air of annoyance. Vijay handed out a ten rupee note, smiling at him.

The transgender snatched the money and took out a coin from his blouse pocket and started chanting a mantra, closing his eyes. After about two seconds, the coin was rotated clockwise around Vijay's head and the transgender took out a lemon from his blouse yet again and pressed it to his head. Then, he kept it under the front tyre of the bike such that the lemon would burst open when Vijay tried to move the vehicle forward.

The coin which revolved around Vijay's head was now handed over to Vijay to keep him away from all evil eyes.

Not having witnessed this before, Vijay was in for a shock wondering how the whole process was done mechanically. "Wow, thank you."

The guy behind Vijay honked loudly and when he turned to see the signal lights it had turned green. But there was so much that Vijay wanted to know about this guy. He revved his vehicle and broke the lemon in half and took the vehicle to the curb.

"What are you doing?" The guy asked getting a small smile from Vijay. "The signal is green. You can go."

Parking the vehicle to the side, hoping that the police wouldn't take away his bike for wrong parking, Vijay got down with a sheepish smile. "I wanted to apologize. Have you had breakfast today? We can chat over coffee?"

The question startled the transgender. He seemed like a small kid who had fallen into the depths of the beggary in ominous times rather than him choosing this in need. The brown eyes seemed to have seen a lot of things in his years and making him friends wasn't a selfless act. Vijay was ready to pull out a recorder, if necessary, for his senses were attenuated to the story that was lingering closely behind.

The boy, taking in the question, now looked terrified. It seemed funny to Vijay though. The boy was in a saree, with lipstick and a bunch of flowers around his head, looking like he could cry any minute now.

"What do you say?" Vijay asked again, trying his best not to laugh at the poor guy.

"Why?" The boy's lips trembled as he looked back and forth hoping that someone would come and rescue him. "Why are you doing this?"