“Remember, we have a train to catch early morning,” Krishna’s mother reminded him. He had promised to take his mother on a pilgrimage, to show that he loved her enough to mend his ways. Krishna was quite young when he got into bad company, leaving school, and ending up as a part of a gang.
The chief of the gang had given him a big assignment. “I’ll give you one last chance. If you do not succeed, then I will have to take a decision,” he said.
“Today I will prove myself. Then I might think about a big change,” thought Krishna.
He arrived at the posh locality for his assignment. There was no one around. He spotted the house he had been ordered to loot. He knew that the owners had gone out of town. He was surprised to find that there was no security guard at the gate, and the back door was open too. He slipped in and looked around. Suddenly, he caught a glimpse of a figure move in the corner of his eye. He flashed his torch and found a man hiding behind a cupboard.
He grinned. He looked like a small-time thief. “You cannot steal anything. I am the servant of the house. I will call the police,” he said.
Krishna knew that he was not the servant, and to complete his task, he had to get rid of the man. He took out his wallet and gave him all the hundred rupee notes he had. The man signalled for more. Reluctantly, Krishna gave him his expensive wallet too — loot from a previous assignment.
With the man out of the way, Krishna headed to the room where the money was kept. He took everything and left. The security guard had still not returned. Krishna handed over the money to his chief. He had successfully finished the task.
A job done
“I will get home in time and ma will be happy, ” he thought.
There were no cabs to be found anywhere. He began to walk, and finally spotted one at a distance. He hopped in, happy that he could now make some decisions in his life.
“Why are the streets deserted?” asked Krishna
The driver did not know. He took out the radio he had just stolen and tuned it trying to get a music channel. Just then, a voice came on “from midnight today, Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 will cease to be legal tender...” It was the Prime Minister! No wonder there was no one around. Everyone was rushing to get their money to the bank. The taxi stopped.
Krishna realised his chief would blame him for this mess.
“God knows when I will reach home! Ma will never forgive me!”
“Sir...Sir… did you hear the announcement? Do you have enough change to pay my fare?” But Krishna had fainted. He had given away all the hundred rupee notes to the small-time thief. He had only high value currency and no means of making any big change.
