Translated from the Original Hindi by
Kanwar Dinesh Singh
We received a wedding invitation from Hoshiarpur. It was decided to travel by Shan-e-Punjab. Winter had started knocking lightly, so I thought – let’s enjoy the journey by general coach instead of AC this time.
At first my wife and children were a little angry at travelling by general coach; but then after a little reluctance, they agreed. It was a journey of about eight hours from Delhi. The seat was booked, so there was no problem. The children quickly occupied the window seat. After setting the entire luggage, my wife and I got busy talking.
“Sister! Buy this Jammu shawl! It is very nice!”
Carrying a heavy bundle of colourful shawls, a dark-skinned young woman with black eyes started insisting to my wife.
“How much does it cost?”
“Two hundred and fifty!”
“It is so expensive!”
“If you buy more pieces, I will reduce the price!”
“Do I want to open a shop?”
“Take them! For both my sisters and for your brothers’ wives!”
I gestured to my wife, but she glared at me and signaled me to keep quiet.
“Okay, if I buy 5 pieces, how much will you charge?”
“Take them for 200 rupees per piece, Didi!”
“No! One hundred rupees per piece!”
“Sister! One hundred is too less!”- saying this, her throat choked and her black eyes turned moist.
“Okay, neither yours nor mine, one hundred and fifty rupees per piece!”
“Okay Didi! It’s okay! Take them, choose the colour!”
She said while thinking something and pushed the bundle in front of his wife.
My wife selected five shawls and looking at me gestured for money.
I immediately took out 750 rupees and gave it to her.
After she left, my wife ruminated on this thought throughout the journey – “She agreed to Rs. 150 at once, I made a mistake, I should have negotiated a little more!”
And my thoughts were caught in the past.
With my daughter in my lap, I was looking out of the train window and thinking – when my father too used to come home tired after selling goods in the train, his eyes too used to have the same moisture as that girl’s eyes had today.
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Dr. Kanwar Dinesh Singh
Poet, Storyteller, Critic & Translator
Email: kanwardineshsingh@gmail.com
Mobile: 9418626090
