5 rupees due

She sat down on the soft yellow couch, going through the day's headlines in the newspaper, on the most beautiful and sunny Sunday morning she could ever imagine. Holidays were the best part of her life; and then sitting at home on a beautiful summer morning, your thoughts going all around the tasty, warm food being cooked in the kitchen by your mother; oh.... It was no less than heaven itself for Ananya, a girl of 25.

She sat on the couch, gazing at the beautiful sunny weather outside, waiting for her mouth to get filled with the combo of spice and sweetness of the poha her mother was preparing. She could sense, somewhere deep in her mind, the ultimate joy of a Sunday morning at home with nothing to do expect doing nothing! She was that free. She was that excited. She felt the footsteps of her mother coming closer and closer, and she smelled the hot, sizzling poha, oh.... What a divine experience! But no! Oh no! Where's the lemon? Where's it gone? She could never imagine eating poha without lemon. What now? Go to the shop to bring lemon? No other way. It is a real mood spoiling experience. But her mood was a little too good to be affected. "Alright" she thought to herself "I'd feel so good by going out among the beautiful singing birds and small children playing cricket in the nearby park". Oh, she loved her way to the shop and then back. The birds chirped all around her, the children enjoyed shouting "It's a free hit! It's a free hit!" .She thought to herself "Oh! What a free and a hit day too!" And so she returned home even more delighted. The experience of eating the poha on such a merry and free Sunday morning was exotic.

But no, no, no, Ananya never felt herself lucky enough to be happy on a Sunday. No chance at all. In came the call from her office, it was her boss, inviting her to an inevitable opportunity to learn, as her boss described the same, old company meeting. But on a Sunday? No need to be surprised; that is the key feature of being under someone. You need to be in the cage of your seniors all the time. She had to leave right then. And so she went out of her home, her brain rested in the memories of the poha.

So she sat in the car, her mood all spoiled, opened the window pane and embarked on her way to the office. As she went from beside the park, the children playing there shouted "Free hit again! Free hit again!" And she thought to herself, "Yes, it's a serious hit, a hit on the head! Work on Sunday?" The birds around continued to chirp, but she thought "Oh! Such irritating noise" she thought. Such was her mood. She closed the window and turned on the A.C.

Somewhere lost in her poha's memories, Ananya was driving the car swiftly towards her office, passing through the road, gazing at the large Mickey- mouse swing in the mall to the left side of the road, which also seemed to tease and provoke her with a devil's smile, as if he had eaten all her poha. She giggled a bit on her own weird thoughts. And then suddenly she saw a car rushing out of the mall's exit, in high speed, and so was she, and then whishhhh.... She seemed to have felt the air of the car's speed on her body, despite of the closed windows. It was a blow of fear. But she was in no mood to feel scared or amazed; she was in a mood of terrible revenge. She actually found a little excuse and an opportunity to give vent to her anger.

And there she went out of her car, showing all the attitude in the world she had. She knocked at the other car's window pane and said, "What? What is this? Can't you see? Are you blind? Have you got no mind? Can't you check if the road is free or not before you get your car out of the mall? Totally senseless people. What do you think? You can do anything you want in the world? If you have an expensive car, will you crash into the poor ones? What's the name? Ummm... Mercedes, hum, driving a Mercedes doesn't mean you'll forget mercy, mercy on common people like us. You are so cruel to trouble us that much. Learn from us, you rich man, learn from us, we have such a big heart. Oh, wait, sorry, why would you have a big heart? You never lose your poha, huh? You get everything in life... Whatever you want. But this doesn't mean you forget us, the common people. You better thank god that my car didn't get any dent or I'd have dented your life too. And thank me too, for I am not saying much to you as I am getting late. But remember, I never forgive such people." The man kept gazing at her in shock and amazement. All that would be going in his mind at that time would be "She said that she was not saying much to me? What is much, if this isn't?" Well, 'her much' at that time was something which Google couldn't explain, and so was her mood. Totally terrible. Wonder what would happen if she really meets a little accident one day.

That one day wasn't too far. In fact, it wasn't far at all. As she passed the mall and its teasing Mickey- mouse, she did meet something which even God would have feared her to meet. It is called an accident. The minutest ones you could imagine, but she could not tolerate her anger on a 'minute' accident for even a 'minute'. And then even the driver of the other car knew, by seeing her face, that there was a terrible weather in that area, there was expected a thunderstorm, a storm of words. A thunderstorm of words started, "First a Mercedes, and now, an Alto. Well, whether it is an alto or an auto, you all men are alike, you all men are alike. You all want to disrupt the happiness and cars of girls. You men are like the new government of India. You didn't like the slogan 'Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao', so you changed it to 'Beti ki car thoko, Beti bhagao'. You are the prime minister of India, no? I just met one of your party members. Appreciate him too for supporting your new slogan. You see this scratch, scratch on my car; it's just because of you. If I would have had time, I'd take you to the mechanic to get it repaired. But I've to attend a meeting. So you give me the money, I'll get it repaired myself later. The prices of car repairing have increased to 1000 rupees recently, plus 25 rupees for wasting my precious time. Quickly, I need the money now." The man gazed at her, kept gazing and thinking for some time, looked at her car, and finally replied with a huge smile, "Sure, ma'am, I'll give you the money. But I'll pay 5 rupees less, Mrs. Blue Beetle Gang's leader. OK?"

To know what's the relation between these two, and what sort of crimes has this gang done in the past, probably not at the level you are thinking though; stay tuned and read the next exciting chapter in the story "5 rupees due"!