THE SUNGLASSES

In one of the most memorable incidents narrated to me by an array of acquaintances that I have the pleasure of knowing, one of the most striking was the one on New Years Eve of 2006. On a regular visit to the busy and bustling sparkling markets of Lucknow, a middle aged, shabbily dressed gentleman approached this acquaintance of mine. He took out a pair of smart chestnut-colored sunglasses from his pocket and requested my acquaintance to barter it for a meager half meal. His eyes had a half begging half defeated countenance of a heart-broken enthusiast. Totally taken aback, this acquaintance of mine, who was absolutely straightforward about all his dealings, smelt fish and bluntly refused the man with a grunt and a wave of his hand generally associated with swatting flies. The sunglass man implored again and whimpered with a sigh “ Sir, I have not had anything to eat since two days and I am very hungry. This pair of goggles is authentic Ray-Ban and is a brand new piece. Please take it. I will eat something even if you give me Rs.50.” As is typical with most people of our society my acquaintance suspiciously asked him with a superior aloofness “ If you don’t have money to eat, how come you could buy such an expensive piece of optics.” The man winced, and then with the embarrassed tone of a thief caught red handed; “ I stole it, from that showroom” he pointed out with his filthy all skin and crooked boned finger.
This acquaintance of mine had led a life of principles. He was decently well to do and extremely conscious of the notion that all his unlimited financial assets were a result of pure hard work and good luck of his forefathers and the credibility of this statement of mine is questionable, even by the person writing it. Nevertheless, a God fearing and straight man like my acquaintance, could never buy anything that was stolen, despite the fact that it was the most beautiful pair of sunglasses he had seen ever and was not hesitant to accept this fact. But he walked on; and narrated the incident to me just minutes later over a couple of cigarettes at my modest lodging. The most preposterous part of the whole incident to me was the refusal of my acquaintance to such a lucrative offer. I, very quickly and very sarcastically told my acquaintance that the age-old chivalry, honesty and morals were now out of fashion. I did not waste any time in convincing him that he had indeed been a poor judge of the opportunity and had no idea that the world was ruled by people who could capitalize on opportunities as and when they arrived and that the man would have sold the same beautiful pair to someone else and that one man could do no good by being morally upright in a country of over a billion morally extinct living beings.
My friend departed moments later with a polite invitation to his place at mid night to celebrate the dawn of another 12 months of our lives. I call him a friend now because we had broken some limits of formality between us during this recent tête-à-tête. My mind wandered back to the Ray – Ban. Maybe the man was still searching for a buyer? What if he had already sold it? Would someone hand him over to the police or to the showroom he swiped the goggles from? Too many questions and I had no answer. I decided to walk down to the place myself and see if I could grab the golden opportunity. Would lady luck smile on me at least today, the last day of yet another year that I had witnessed in totality? I put on a jacket and walked down to the market. I knew the exact place he had been at. I did not know that with each step my heartbeat grew faster and so did my pace. Before long, I was there. The very spot I wanted to reach. My eyes scanned each and every person in the vicinity. The bustling market place, the bright lights, discos blasting away the best collection of party songs one ever heard, the smell of fresh coffee and cakes, the screeching cars and happy young couples eagerly waiting for the new year to draw closer; everything seemed to be perfect. My mind wandered back to my mother and my family back at Dehradun. How would they be celebrating the eve? It had been long since I had been with them at any kind of celebration. I thought of the great friends back from school, though I knew they would be to busy partying to think of anything else. What would they be doing in happening places like Delhi, Bombay or Pune, where time ran ahead of everyone, everyone ran behind money and life ran behind the rich? “Sir, would you care to lend me a ear?” A pale and drawn face asked me in broken Hindi and a crackling voice. I spun, could it be him? The man I had come hunting for? “I am famished, I haven’t had a meal for two days. Can you please take this pair of sunglasses from me and help me with a slender meal?” His voice and his face made me forget the sunglasses. He looked as if a skeleton from the biology laboratory at school had worn a dry skin and put on some tarnished clothes. His eyes buried deep inside his tired brows were half full of tears. My heart ached. New year was it? What significance did first of January have for him? I pulled him by his sleeve and took him into a ‘not so impressive’ eatery right behind us. I could have bought the entire store for him that night; and I did. Everything from bread to sandwiches to pizzas and dishes I had never cared to read in a menu. He ate, gobbled, swallowed, chewed, all at once. Half laughing, half crying; half thankful, half confused, but he ate, he ate till he could put nothing else in his mouth. Through the entire half an hour that he ate non stop I could only stare at him and feel happy, feel sad, feel disturbed and watch, all in silence. After he had had his full, he looked up at me, spoke some undecipherable words of gratitude shed a couple of tears and vanished into the bustling market place, the bright lights, discos blasting away the best collection of party songs one ever heard, the smell of fresh coffee and cakes, the screeching cars and happy young couples eagerly waiting for the new year to draw closer. But he left behind the dark chestnut Ray Ban. As I paid for the meal and picked up the sunglasses, the world seemed to melt away. I did not mind paying almost five times the amount I was prepared to pay for them, I did not mind getting late for the mid night party I had so cordially been invited to, I did not mind not being with the people I loved on New Years eve, I did not mind the filthy fingerprints on the sunglasses and I did not mind promptly walking down to the showroom from which the glasses were stolen and returning them back to the confused and startled owner who did not understand how to react to the entire scene. Happy New Year, I wished the owner and I wished myself. Maybe lady luck did smile on me for once; maybe the old values and morals were not so out of fashion, I thought. Despite the best of my half-hearted efforts, he refused to take the sunglasses back. I was not unhappy to carry them along.
Minutes later I was at the mid night party I had been eagerly waiting to attend, my heart still filled with an illogical happiness, my mind still lost in thoughts of the sunglasses and the man. Nevertheless I went around the gathering, seemingly engrossed in handshakes and smiles. Wine flowed, music played on and on and on, exotic delicacies flew from one table to another, red carpets, silk curtains, teak sofas, magnanimous chandeliers, people enjoying songs that seemed to be more of noise and less of music, an amazingly vulgar display of wealth and vanity. At last I did get a chance to share the proceedings of my rendezvous with the sunglasses man with the host, my friend and few of his friends.
What followed were jeers from everyone, a whole lot of sardonic comments, some jokes that I could not, despite my best efforts, take in the right spirit and a whole lot of advises on the functioning of the modern world. “These emotions and concerns are nothing but the beginning of the end of the road for you”, someone told me. The night or should I say the morning ended pretty late. I had spent the entire party in calculating what was right morally and what was worldly right in year 2006 AD. I still have a long way to go before I understand the true requirements of a man of this era, was all I could conclude.
Was it right for the privileged few to have over displayed their riches for an occasion that just symbolizes the passage of time? Or was it that the average Indian was far ahead of the place I was standing at in time? Should no one actually care about those for whom a meal is far higher on the priority list than celebrating New Year? What was New Year’s Eve to those who had no respite from earning a meal a day? Do we really have some responsibilities towards society? If so what is the scope of such duties? Are values of love, humanity and honesty actually out of fashion? What is the true importance of money, the most important thing of today’s world? Should I have handed over the man to the police? After all he was a thief, a criminal. Did my actions actually help the man or did it send a message across that the wrong way is probably the only way? Would he continue to steal to feed himself? Is it not the fundamental right of every person to stay alive by any means that he can? What was the true story behind his actions? Was I actually an idiot to have tried to return the sunglasses to the showroom? Do values outweigh materialism even today? Or did they ever? These are questions I have failed to find answers to. Maybe the sunglass man or the owner of the showroom can answer them better.
Meanwhile life and time do go on. We continue running after money, vices continue to run after us, life continues to run after the rich, time continues to run ahead of us all and we all end up running all the time and reach nowhere. Where is the end to this mad run and what happens to those who are unable to keep pace remains to be found out. Maybe the people at the party did know how to run ahead of time and make money and life run behind them. Who was right, who was wrong, who knows, who will ever know?