The last deal

The last deal

…………………..

Khemka who is above 70 has many ailments. He is bedridden and thinks that all his vrat and pujas can’t save him from certain death. He is scared about night, the night signifies end to him.

It is late in the night, the sleep eludes him, he gets up from his bed with great difficulty and approaches the big ancestral almirah in the bedroom. He opens the lock by the bunch of keys which always dangles from his waist. He does not trust anyone with that bunch of keys. These keys are for all those safes containing his gold, silver and other costly things….his life’s earning, he loves the yellow metal and not the share market. He slowly opens the almirah and then with another key he opens the safe inside the almirah. There lies his ancestral lota. His father told him how he had come from Rajasthan with that lota and some money to Calcutta, started his business in Jute and built his empire. His father’s advice was whenever in trouble that lota will guide him.

He is in deep trouble, it is life and death question for him literately so clutching the lota with wobbly steps he goes back to the bed. He takes a closer look at that lota of kansa (bell metal) fondly. The lota reminds him of his childhood, his days in small chawal in Burra Bazar with his brothers and sisters. He is now trying to figure out how it can help him, it is only reminding him of their humble beginning.

He is lying on the bed with lota in hand. He absentmindedly puts his hand inside the  lota….whoosh a dark giant appears from the lota. He is thrilled that now he knows that it is no ordinary lota but a container like Alladin’s lamp and now a genie stands before him.

Are you that genie of lamp of Alladin?

No , I am Yamraj and have come to warn you that your days are numbered.

He is not able to talk for sometimes but then his business brain starts working.

Is there a way to delay my death?

Yamraj says, “Come with me to Yamalay I will show you the process of how I decide whom to take from the earth.”

Yamraj holds Khemka’s hand and both fly out of the open door to the sky, the sleeping servants could not see them vanishing.

They enter a dark fort somewhere in the sky. They land in courtyard from  where diagonally  like sunrays there are running corridor leading to millions of rooms. Yamraj takes him to a room where there are lamps. He explains each lamp is a person in earth, all the rooms have such lamps covering the population of whole wrorld.

Khemka is not interested in whole world, please take me to my lamp.

Yamraj leads him to a congested room where lamps are put on racks. Khemka sees the room real crowded and thinks to himself , yes it is Calcutta no doubt.

Khemka is led to a corner rack, on the third shelf from the bottom and the second one is the lamp representing his life. The glow from his lamp is dim as the oil level is nearly touching the bottom. His quick mind has grasped that more quantity of oil left means more life.

He hears a click in his mind; the business gears started working furiously in his mind. He plans to make a deal with the devil.

Is there a way to get more oil in my life lamp? He speaks in his usual conspiratorial tone.

Oh, yes why not but you got to pay price , I know you are a business man so as an exception I appeared to warn you. As such the cost of maintaining Yamalay is increasing day by day so I don’t mind doing a deal. I do that often with Americans, Chinese and Indians.

Khemka is happy. What is the price?

For each year increase of your life you have to pay ten  gold coins of 10gms each.

What 10 gold coins for one year increase of his life!. His wealth of gold is result of his thrifty habits. He cannot think of giving his hard earned gold.

Is there any other deal?

Yamraj is furious by the question of Khemka so thinks of punishing him.

Yes, you give your right arm and I will see that you live another 100 years.

Khemka does a quick calculation and says, I want 30 years so that I can live up to 100 years so you take one third of my right arm from the wrist, Khemka knows in Jaipur he can get artificial hand for less than 1 lakh and thus he saved money by not giving gold coin.

Yamraj is flummoxed by the suggestion of the wily businessman. He thinks to himself I must inflict a real pain to this wretched human.

Suddenly Yamraj grows in size holds Khemka on the ground putting his knee on his chest and pulls Khemka's hand  to tear it from the wrist.

“ aye, o, mother, it is paining” Khemka starts yelling in pain,his body convulses  , his ears wring.
He writhes with pain and looks up at Yamraj but to his surprise he finds Ramu his servant in place of Yamraj. He is lying on the bed and Ramu his servant is trying to pull  his hand out of the lota.

He is relieved to find himself on the bed but the nightmare was so real.

He heard his wife shouting from the next room.. ….stop banging that lota on the bed, that horrible sound woke me up from my sleep.