A New Smartphone

Bunty was looking somewhat sad. He was munching at a leisurely pace on his breakfast; as if he was engrossed somewhere else. Bunty’s mother; Pooja asked, “Why this long face? I have served your favourite dish in breakfast. You love Maggi. What happened?”

Bunty’s head sank further towards the ground. Without lifting his eyes, he said, “No use of telling you. You won’t be able to fulfill my demand. I know we are not affluent.”

Pooja said, “Yeah, I know that we are not affluent. But we have tried our best to keep you happy. After all, you are the apple of my eyes.”

Bunty raised his head and looked straight into his mother’s eyes. He said, “I need a smartphone on my birthday. Most of my friends have smartphones. It looks awkward when I take out my Samsung Guru in front of them. They call me all sorts of name.”

Hearing that, Pooja said, “Do you know the price of a smartphone with proper configuration? Some of them cost more than what your father earns in a month. We can manage with Akash tablet. That is quite cheap.”

Bunty threw away the steel bowl towards the kitchen sink and shouted, “No way. I need a phone with top quality camera and RAM. Otherwise, I am fine with my basic mobile phone.”

Bunty’s father; who was sitting in another room too heard their discussion. He came out and caressed Bunty’s hair, and said, “Don’t worry son. I will do whatever it takes to get you a nice smartphone. Hope a phone in the range of ten to twelve thousands shall be fine for you.”

Bunty’s face flashed with a winning smile. Pooja interrupted her husband; Shyam and said, “How will you pay so much for a phone. You are just getting twenty thousand as salary. Do you know how tough it is to manage the household expenses, school fees and other expenses in this meagre amount? It is you who has spoiled this brat.”

After finishing his breakfast, Bunty took out his bicycle and rushed to his school. Shyam too got ready to go to the factory where he was working as supervisor of factory workers. During lunch break, Shyam took his lunch-box and went to the manager’s chamber. Alok Mehra; the manager had already started having the lunch. Looking at Shyam, he said, “Hey, Shyam. How are you? Good to see you coming to enjoy lunch with me. Hope everything is fine at your family front.”

Shyam nodded his head in affirmative and took out his lunch-box. After eating a couple of morsels, Shyam said to Alok Mehra, “Sir, can I ask you for some favour?”

Alok Mehra said, “Yeah! Go ahead.”

Shyam further said, “In fact, I am in urgent need of some money. Will you be kind enough to recommend an advance payment of ten thousand for me? The company can adjust the amount from my salary in the next ten or twelve months.”

Alok Mehra’s forehead began to show some creases; as if he was putting some strain on his mind. He said, “What is the matter? Is someone sick in your family? If I am not wrong, your parents have already left for heavenly abode a long time back.”

Shyam brought a fake smile on his face and said, “No, no, everyone is hale and hearty. Actually, I need to buy a smartphone for my son. I need money for that.”

Alok Mehra’s eyeballs almost popped out of the sockets. His voice became somewhat louder when he said, “Are you in your senses? Do you think you can afford a phone which costs ten thousand rupees? Shyam, you should cut your coat according to your cloth. Try to explain the reality to your son instead of spoiling him.”

Shyam did not utter a single word. It was pin-drop silence when Shyam and Alok Mehra were finishing their food. After the lunch-break, Shyam went to the shop-floor to finish that day’s work. But his mind was not on his job rather it was waiting for the final hooter sound. The final hooter of the factory appeared to be taking too long to announce the end of the working hours. After what appeared to be an endless wait, the hooter made a hoarse sound at five in the evening. Shop-floor workers started coming out in a queue; like products on the conveyor belt in the assembly line. Each worker was smiling and saying Namaste to Shyam. But Shyam was finding it difficult to bring smile on his face. Most of the workers found his behaviour amusing but nobody dared to ask about it. Ramlal; who was the most senior worker was the last man in the queue. Looking at Shyam’s face, he asked, “Shyam Ji, what happened? You don’t appear to be in your normal mood.”

Ramlal put his hand on Shaym’s shoulder; while they were emerging out of the main gate of the factory. Shyam said to Ramlal, “You know Bunty; my son? He has become stubborn. I know that I am the culprit for this. You know that he is my only son. He wants a smartphone as his birthday gift. I don’t know how to manage the money for that.”

Ramlal kept mum for a few moments and then said, “Don’t worry. I know a person who lends money on interest. You can borrow from him. The interest rate is quite steep, but I am sure you shall be able to repay the loan in no time.”

When Shyam reached his home in the evening, he was carrying a small box which was nicely wrapped in colourful paper. Seeing that pack, Bunty’s joy knew no bound. He was elated as if he found some treasure. He kept awake throughout that night; playing all the games which that phone could offer. He also took many photos of him and his parents.

After about a week, it was celebration time on Bunty’s birthday. Bunty had invited many of his friends; which included one of his neighbours named Tinku. Tinku’s father Mohan was working in the same factory; under Shyam. The tiny drawing room was decorated with colourful balloons, stars, stripes and sparkles. When Bunty blew the candles, one of his friends popped a canister which burst to release a cloud of sparkles to add the proverbial dash of colours to the party. Bunty’s mother was busy taking photos of the party. She must have taken hundreds of photos but she was not done yet. In the meantime, Tinku took out his Samsung Guru and started taking some photos. Looking at him, Bunty burst into laughter. Bunty said, “Hey Tinku! What do you think? Your useless phone cannot take good photos. Why are you spoiling my image in front of my friends?”

Other boys too joined the round of laughter. Even Bunty’s parents started mocking Tinku. Tinku’s parents did not like that spectacle. They held Tinku by his arms and left the party in a huff.

The next evening, Bunty appeared to have had too much of his new smartphone. He took out a bubble-maker which he got from someone as birthday gift. Bunty was at the rooftop; making soap bubbles of all sizes. There were bubbles of all sizes; big, medium and small. Bunty was overjoyed at seeing the colours of rainbow in those bubbles. Tinku was playing in the lane below the rooftop. When he craned his neck to see those bubbles and Bunty, one of the bubbles hit his face and burst in his eyes. Tinku felt a burning sensation in his eyes because of soap. It was not too much of a pain but nevertheless Tinku started crying as if he was stung by a wasp. Hearing his cries, Tinku’s parents rushed out into the lane. Mohan (Tinku’s father) took no time in rushing through the staircase to reach the rooftop. He grabbed Bunty’s hairs and started thrashing Bunty. Within no time, Bunty was beaten black and blue. All that Bunty was left with were sore eyes and swollen face.

After venting his anger on Bunty, Mohan returned to the lane. He was shouting at the top his voice, “What do they think? I know that Shyam is my boss in the factory. So what? He is earning just five thousand rupees more than me. Does he think that I cannot afford a smartphone for my son? Even I can borrow money from the same person from whom Shyam has borrowed. I am going to buy even costlier phone for my son.”

Most of the people from the neighbourhood had already come out in the lane. Some of them were trying to figure out what had happened. Some of them were taking a sadistic pleasure of that quarrel. But none of them tried to intervene in the matter.