A Dirty Game - A Short Story

A Dirty Game

 There were simple people and the environment was pleasing. The villagers loved the village and society. Empathy, sympathy, harmony, co-operation prevailed there. If their could be any heaven, that was there. Yes, Mahapur village was a heaven on earth. The villagers were simple and so they were happy. Some of the villagers were Dhingra, Haran, Malik, Saran, Jiten, Hari etc. All of them lived happily in that village with their families. Dhingra was a barber, Haran was a cobbler, Malik would run a grocery shop, Saran was a hawker etc. - various were their professions. Yet, there was one thing common - they were honest and simple.

   One day a customer gave five rupees more to Saran. He realised that at the end of the day after reaching home. Next day, though he was unwell and had to go to a doctor, he cycled 10km to the customer's house to return the extra money. Haran was poor and he could keep the money, but his honesty did not allow him to give that. The customer was surprised and hearing Saran's illness asked him to keep the money, but Saran did not take that.

    There were many such incidents. One day a villager bought some items from Malik's shop, but forgot to give the price. He went home. Malik did not know that. Next day, he was going to his relative's house. When he boarded the bus, the villager put his hand into his pocket and found the money. He realised his mistake. It was the same money which he took to the grocery shop to buy items. So, he descended from the bus, hurried 2km to reach his village and paid his bill. Then he went to the bus-stop again to catch a bus.

    Rakhal had a terrible incident one day. He went to the bank to withdraw money as he had to buy fertilizer for his tilled land. He withdrew Rs.10,000/- from the bank and kept that in his bag. Reaching the fertilizer-shop he found that the bag was missing. He felt at sea. He did not have any money left in his bank account. He could not think anything. Many questions began to appear - How would he buy fertilizer? What would he feed his family throughout the year? How would he repay his debt? Who would lend him money? ect. and etc. He sat under a tree and wept a lot. Disheartened, he went home late in the evening. Rakhal thought when he would tell what had happened, all would cry but the opposite happened. Hearing that he had lost his money Rakhal's wife Namrata brought the money from inside and gave him. He gave a sob of relief. Then Namrata said that Malik found the money in a bag. Seeing his ration card there, he understood whose money it was and returned us at noon. Several such incidents were widely known about the villagers.

   Then the dirty game started. Three villages, Rakhal, Haran and Swapan, were made party candidates to contest from three different parties in the Panchayat Election. They were told how much rich they could be if they won. The money-greed possessed them. That destroyed the characters of villagers and peace of the village. Within 2 years those honest and simple villagers turned into notorious ones. Snatching, stealing, falsehood etc. became rampant. The old days were gone. 

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