THE UNEMPLOYED GRADUATE
– Satyajit Roy.
An unemployed graduate woke up one morning and checked his pocket. All he was left with was just Rupees Fifty. He decided it to use it to buy food and then wait for death as he was too proud to go begging. He was frustrated as he could not find any job and nobody was ready to help him.
He bought food and sat down on a small bench to eat. An old man came along and asked him to help him with food as he has not eaten for almost a week. He looked at him. His eyes were full of pain and sorrow. He was dying of starvation. He was so lean that he could count his rib-bones. His eyes had gone into the socket. With the last bit of compassion he had, he gave him the food. Having the food the old man prayed that God would bless and prosper him and then gave him a very old pen. The young graduate said him ‘You need the prayer more than I do’.
With no money, no job, no food, the young graduate went under a tree and rest and wait for death. As he was about to get asleep, he saw an old newspaper on the ground. He picked it up and suddenly he saw an advertisement for people owning old things to come to an address.
He decided to go there with that old pen the old man gave him. On getting to that place, he gave the proprietor the pen. The proprietor screamed, brought out an old book and showed the young graduate a photograph. It was the picture of that same old pen. The old pen was worth a Hundred Crore Rupees. The young graduate was overjoyed as the proprietor gave him a bank draft of a Hundred Crore rupees within an hour. He collected the bank draft and went in search of the old man. By the time he got to where he left him eating, he was gone.
After searching for some time he found a crowd of people circling something. When he went up to the crowd he found the same old man bathed with blood. He was run over by a fast moving vehicle when he was lying down near the footpath. His heart was full of pain, tears rolled down his cheeks. He didn’t even had the chance to say ‘Thank You’ to that poor old man. Standing helpless on the spot for quite some time he was stoned. As he was on orphan he did all the rituals of that old man. After he returned back to his orphan home completing all the rituals, he found a small note under his pillow written ‘You gave us your all and I rewarded back with the pen’, signed The Heavenly Hosts.
MORAL OF THE STORY:
Be kind to people…Learn to be hospitable, for you may not know when you will entertain Angels.
