This story was told by my friend SMJ. One afternoon some years ago, he was passing through a prominent promenade in the city. He got a tempting whiff of hot samosas being fried at a roadside eating place.

The aroma was not only too tempting to resist but appetising also. SMJ could not resist the sight of the steaming hot samosas — the pyramid-shaped delicacy — and stepped out of his car. He was going on an important mission but decided to give it a pass. That could wait, but not the hot samosas, he told his spouse Sadhna, who was sitting by his side.

That was at tea time, when most people come out to such eateries to enjoy the fresh-from-the-oven snacks or get their requirements delivered to their homes. As the couple was devouring the hot delicacies, they saw a skirmish at a local shop. The owner was thrashing Govind, a servant boy. All the customers witnessed Govind’s beating, but only SMJ took the cudgel on Govind’s behalf and scolded the shop owner for his behaviour. If the boy had done something wrong he could have been handed over to the police. But the sane counsel did not dawn on the shopkeeper.

Even as he tried to explain the situation, Govind, tears rolling down his cheeks, cried out loudly so that every customer could hear his plight. “He has not given me any food or even snacks for the last two days as a punishment for what he calls some lapse on my part. I don’t have any coins either to buy even a biscuit,” the crying boy told the crowd around him.

Govind belonged to a family of priests from a neighbouring district, most of whom made a living by conducting marriages and performing puja (prayer) on auspicious occasions. In the struggle for survival, the influential and powerful elbowed this boy, their own kin, out of the family’s lucrative profession. His dream of pursuing the same line was shattered. And the lad was forced to work at a hotel for a petty sum. But now, it seemed, he was being denied even that.

Taking pity on the boy, SMJ offered him food at his home. The penniless, hungry boy jumped with joy on hearing the cheering words and accompanied SMJ to his house. The first thing he did was to take a thorough bath, which had been denied to him for about a week. The assurance of food and the unexpected hospitality of the strangers instantly changed the boy’s looks.

Govind declared that he would enter the same profession and avenge the shopkeeper for his humiliation. “Sir, you will see that one day I will teach them a lesson,” he kept mumbling while getting ready. Thinking that such an emotional outburst was quite natural, SMJ dismissed it, but the boy was underscoring his words.

Govind was offered food for a few days, some cash and good clothes to wear so that he could relaunch himself in another field. But the lad refused to leave SMJ’s house. “I will do the maid’s job and stay right here,” the boy said with a steely determination that baffled the couple.

Total stranger

The husband and wife looked at each other to gauge each other’s reaction. After all, the boy was a total stranger. They wondered if it would be advisable to give him shelter in the house. SMJ said his intuition told him the boy had a clean slate. And the pair yielded.

Govind was now part of the family. His boss’ action of coming to his aid during a thrashing had made him indebted to him for life. The boy paid back the gratitude through his hard work and honesty.

He stayed with the family for about a year, during which he was able to learn the basics of conducting marriages and other related ceremonies. In no time, he became a well-known priest because of his style of chanting hymns, which won him good clients. From Govind, he graduated to Pandit Govindji (Govind the learned).

At one ceremony, his priest brother found himself at his wit’s end when Govindji floored him during a joint rendering of hymns.

Today, the samosa shop lad is financially well off and can buy all the samosas from the shop where he was once degraded. Now, he says, “I have achieved what I wanted to be. Now I have no grudge against anybody. No ill will against anybody”.

Lalit Raizada is a journalist based in India.