Translated from the Original Hindi by Kanwar Dinesh Singh

He was able to arrange only eighteen hundred rupees for registration of a forty-eight square metre plot in Rohini under a scheme of the Delhi Development Authority. The last date was close and he needed two hundred rupees more immediately.

He was proud of the fact that many people who got between 1500 to 5000 rupees per month were his close friends, his own people, and when needed, they would gladly give him from five hundred to one thousand rupees at the instant. And then, when he was in urgent need of money, he first approached the friend who got the highest salary. The friend told him that nothing could be done so immediately, he’d help him only if he managed it from somewhere in the following couple of days.

When he went to another friend, he too expressed his inability to give anything at once and asked him to come to his office where he would get him money from someone for ten rupees in interest. The third one, who was his most intimate friend, was able to pay only fifty rupees. After returning home, when he was sitting sad on a cot in front of his house, the neighbouring tenant, Ramdas, came to him and asked the reason for his sadness.

            As soon as he explained the situation, Ramdas took out of his pocket the whole salary of the fortnight that he had received the same day and offered it to him, saying, “Keep as much as you want.”

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