With darkness engulffing the city, if you could call it one, I needed a place to settle. I had my plans laid out. With whatever little money I was left with, I called up my mother and she had promised to send money to the nearby post office and I was to collect it from the Post master.
I was at peace with myself. With an assurance of a better tomorrow, a place to stay for the night was all I asked for but I didnot know that Chennai had this habit of testing its visitors before obliging with their requests. Nice city, I have to agree and I have my reasons too.
There are times in everyone�s life when one realises the importance of coins � the ones that in periods of affluence are ignored and just carried about, without being used for the fear of being considered cheap. Had I not been mean to small change, I would have spent the night inside the Railway station. A platform ticket worth 3 ruppees was all I needed to buy and I could have spent a night under the fan, with a loo to back up my bladder which believed that I was a beer guzzler and hence reported for duty at regular intervals.
With no small change on me, I had to settle down on a long, raised platform built for the pedestrians entering the station. Luckily for me, Chennai has a tropical climate and the month of April is hotter than the other eleven. Even as I gazed at the clouds parting, just so I could catch a glimpse of the stars, I knew that I was safe � atleast from the cold. The musquitos did not matter. We had them in Madurai and I had seen all kinds.
I would never have grown fond of Chennai, had it not been for the policeman on patrol, though he is not the real protagonist of this narration. As I settled down on the pavement, this policeman walked upto me and enquired, �I see that you are new here?�
It was then I noticed that many like me were scattered all around. For a moment I thought there were too many pocket pickers in Chennai but then reality dawned. There were about a dozen of them and in the moonlight I could see bliss on their face. Once I realised that they were at peace with themselves and the world, I knew it. I knew that they were all beggers and for a day, I would be one among them.
�Yes, sir. Somebody picked my pocket today afternoon and I am waiting for my mother to send me some money,� I said.
�You cannot spend the night here if you do not give me something, � was the policeman�s curt reply.
Luckily, I happened to understand his need and offered him my wrist watch. I did not even get a chance to thank the policeman as he looked around and grabbed my payment and walked away into the darkness. Later when I was thinking about it, I shuddered at the thought of picking up a fight with the policeman and waking up all those blessed with celestial bliss.
As I was reveling in my unaccustomed leisure, I felt a hand on my shoulder. But for the moonlight, I would not have seen his face and would have screamed. Just that he was he was ugly and scary.
