I was having tea at the local tea shop outside my office. A small shop, just like thousand others in the city. The tea shop owner's son, a young boy, now is used to us visiting his shop almost daily. Most of the times, he is very busy handing out tea in paper cups to the crowd around and collecting money. But sometimes, when it is not crowded, he talks to us. I have heard him speak to my friends many times, not really understanding what he says, owing to my lack of Tamil knowledge. So, one day when I heard him speaking to a customer who also did not happen to understand Tamil, I was quite surprised. He said," I am really sorry sir, but I dont have change. Can you please give me 6 rupees change?" That was the first time I really took notice of the boy. Few days later, I saw a poster saying "Smoking is injurious to health" in front of his shop. It was not just any other readymade poster you see at public places. It was handmade, on chart paper with pencil and couple of drawings. I enquired, "Who made this?" He smiled sheepishly, "I did". "Its brilliant !" I replied. "Thank you", he said and went back after handing us our cups of tea. The elaichi tea, as usual, was perfect.
On our next visit, we saw a new poster, with more pictures on the left side of the shop, just above a newly appointed dustbin. This poster read "Do not litter..Please use the dustbin". I'm not sure, if this was a result of the appreciation in the last visit. Anyway, it made me very happy.
Coming back to yesterday, while having tea, I overheard him talking to one of my friends in Tamil. The conversation wouldn't have caught my attention but for these words - "building top floor..suicide...blood...police". I immediately started focussing on his story. By then, I understood that some guy had jumped off the 11th floor of the building opposite to the tea shop the previous day and died. I waited for their conversation to end and then asked my friend to translate whatever the boy told. Here is the translation in the words of the tea shop boy, "The guy was in love with a girl. The girl's parents refused to marry their daughter off to a BPO employee who was "just" a 12th pass. The girl also stopped talking to the guy. The guy couldn't take this and decided to end his life. Bhaiya, you tell me, I am staying with my parents for so many years. I fight with them often. But if they tell me they wont talk to me, I won't go jump off some building. Why do people jump off buildings only for love failures? The other guy in express avenue also did it for a girl(citing another suicide in chennai in the same month)." Simple question, isnt it?
On our next visit, we saw a new poster, with more pictures on the left side of the shop, just above a newly appointed dustbin. This poster read "Do not litter..Please use the dustbin". I'm not sure, if this was a result of the appreciation in the last visit. Anyway, it made me very happy.
Coming back to yesterday, while having tea, I overheard him talking to one of my friends in Tamil. The conversation wouldn't have caught my attention but for these words - "building top floor..suicide...blood...police". I immediately started focussing on his story. By then, I understood that some guy had jumped off the 11th floor of the building opposite to the tea shop the previous day and died. I waited for their conversation to end and then asked my friend to translate whatever the boy told. Here is the translation in the words of the tea shop boy, "The guy was in love with a girl. The girl's parents refused to marry their daughter off to a BPO employee who was "just" a 12th pass. The girl also stopped talking to the guy. The guy couldn't take this and decided to end his life. Bhaiya, you tell me, I am staying with my parents for so many years. I fight with them often. But if they tell me they wont talk to me, I won't go jump off some building. Why do people jump off buildings only for love failures? The other guy in express avenue also did it for a girl(citing another suicide in chennai in the same month)." Simple question, isnt it?
