#4- Losses and Wins
Once upon a time in the land of Kanapur there lived a poor merchant called Kupandi who dreamed of riches. But whatever trade he tried it made him no money.
He had tried becoming a wheat merchant and had put all his savings into purchasing wheat to sell to different places. But for two years there was a bumper crop of wheat and the prices went so low (because of the mysterious forces of supply and demand) that he lost his house.
At the same time his childhood friend, Giri who was poorer than him and couldn’t afford to sell wheat, started selling rat catchers. The bumper crop of wheat created a big need for his rat catchers because the rats had grown to monstrous proportions, eating up the wheat. Giri’s business grew.
Next Kupandi sold his house and started a business selling richly embroidered cloth. That year and the year after that there was such a drought in the land that people had very less money and very few could afford to hold parties that needed such rich clothes.
Kupandi was again losing money and his friend Giri was now again making more money because he had bought a lot of the last year’s wheat. He was now one of the few people in the land who had something that the people wanted. Actually, people hungered for food so desperately that Giri or Seth Girdhari Lal as he was now called (which he thought and everyone agreed was a better way to address a rich merchant) went everywhere with a small private army.
Finally at his wits ends the merchant went to his friend Seth Girdhari Lal and said, “dear friend, I have tried everything. I have traded in wheat but that year so much wheat was grown that I had to cut down my prices when I traded in clothes, there was a drought and very few people could afford the rich clothes. I am so lost now, could you help me.”
“Oh my friend, “ said Seth Girdharilal, for he was a kind man, “why didn’t you come to me sooner? Of course, I will help you.” Saying this he gave Kupandi some money.
Kupandi was very happy and went with that bag of money. On the way to his village, he had to cross the Nimisha van. Legend had it that it was the forest of blood. Many battles had been fought in that land and the blood of thousands had covered it many times. This forest had finally arisen out of that blood-soaked land. It was said, the forest and its trees rose out in a single night. The land could not hold in all that darkness and let it out as dark trees. In the morning it was dark but at night it was foolhardy to cross it.
It was late afternoon and Kupandi thought that if he ran through it, he might just make it. He tied up the money in a bag around his neck and started running.
It was not easy. The branches of the trees seemed to reach out deliberately to scratch him as he ran, but Kupandi did not stop till he reached a small clearing in the middle of the forest. The afternoon sun still shone brightly up in the sky and Kipandi decided to rest for a few moments to catch his breath. The minute he thought that he realised he was so tired, that he lay down where he stood and went off to sleep.
When he finally awoke, Kupandi saw the rays of the sun settling in the west. It was late evening and in an hour it would be night. He didn’t have enough time to run and he would still be in Nimisha van before nightfall.
Fearing for his life, Kupandi began to wail, “Hai….what do I do? I will be eaten or a demon will get inside me. What use are these 2000 coins? I would give it all away for a chance to get away from this god-forsaken forest.”
“How much money do you have?” Asked a gravelly voice behind him.
Shocked, Kupandi turned around. He saw an old tinkerman carrying a checked cloth bag too big for him.
“Tell me how much,” he repeated because Kupandi was still staring at him with his mouth open.
Now that he saw a way out of Nimisha van, Kupandi thought of saving some of his money.
“I can give you 500 coins,” said Kupandi.
“That’s not what I heard you cry out,” said the tinkerman.
“I can give you 700 coins but nothing more. I need some money to start a business. My friend gave it to me.”
“Ah! You want to start a business. I have a very good idea for you. Give me all your 2000 coins and I will give you rice seeds that will never fail. It will grow the biggest pearls of rice and better still, people who eat this rice, will come to you again…because they will fall sick. And then you can sell them this medicine and become richer. But you have to give me 10% of your riches every year.”
Kupandi thought that was a wonderful deal. He would start two businesses and become richer than Giri and now people would call him Seth Kupandi Das.
Kupandi gave his money to the tinkerman and the tinkerman led him out of Nimisha van. He gave him the rice seeds and the recipe for the medicine.
In two years all that the tinkerman had said came to pass and Kupandi became a rich man, richer than Girdhari Lal. Poor Seth Girdhari Lal lost his children in the first wave of sickness brought by the rice because he was away on business when his children fell sick and could not get them the medicines in time. He lost his joy in his work and soon his old business was bought by Seth Kupandi Das and Giri used the money to set up a small vegetable cart for himself. He was sad and had no dreams of riches left in him and that’s where we leave him for now.
But Seth Kupandi Das was also sad because every year he had to go to Nimisha van. To the same clearing where he had promised the tinkerman his 2000 and the 10 percent. And that’s where he was going now, to give the tinkerman his share.
—
Meanwhile Mani’s plan was working well.
He and the robbers waited patiently at the edge of the forest which was called Nimisha van. They waited patiently till they spotted a rich merchant travelling with his private soldiers.
“Attack them,” Mani told the thieve, “and then blindfold them. Make sure you don’t kill them though. I don’t want to bring anyone back from the dead.”
“Hehehe,” laughed the chief of robbers uncertainly. He was quite foolish and believed everything he was told. That’s why he never got promoted when he was a banker. He had become the chief of the robbers because he was the first one tricked by the tinkerman. But he knew that Jabal was always looking for a chance to throw him out.
Seth Kupandi Das saw the ferocious-looking thugs and hid behind his biggest commander. But that was a mistake because Jabal thought the commander looked just right for his first punch.
Neither Seth Kupandi Das nor his soldiers saw Mani hiding behind a bush, laughing till tears rolled from his eyes.
Then Jabal trussed up the merchant and threw him behind the bushes where he landed with a THUD! The chief roared with delight and his scary laughter made the remaining soldiers run away only to be caught and blindfolded like the merchant.
Inside the blindfold, Seth Kupandi Das was even more frightened as he imagined horrible-looking creatures waiting to kill him. He started wailing. “Hai!” He cried, “someone save me from these thugs. I will give all this money to anyone who does!”
Then he heard a whisper in his ears, “do you really and truly swear on your imperishable soul that you will give all your riches to one who saves you.”
“I do,” whispered Seth Kupandi Das back. “Do you know anyone who can do that?” He whispered again because the voice sounded woefully young to be of any help.
“I am the awesome jadugar Bala and don’t be deceived by my age you will soon see my magic,” said Mani majestically. “Now close your ears or you will hear magical words that will do you no good and bring lots of harm.”
Seth Kupandi Das promptly closed his ears so he couldn’t hear Mani’s derisive laughter nor the footsteps of the running thugs.
“I have saved you, O merchant,” said Mani coming back to him and opening his blindfold, “now fulfill your promise.”
Seth Kupandi Das looked dazed as he saw some of his all around him he saw his private soldiers tied and blindfolded behind him and no sign of the dreaded robbers. He was so happy he burst out crying and hugged Mani in joy. “You are truly marvellous O jadugar Bala,” cried Seth Kupandi Das. “Come with me to city, I will introduce you to the king and his courtiers. You will be famous throughout the land…”
SIDELIGHTS
This story took more than a week in coming out because I was not happy…the story of Mani and Vani was progressing but I wanted more characters. So I stopped myself from publishing the earlier version (which was more or less the second the second part of today’s story…Mani’s part) and started with another character…
The name of the forest came from the Mahabharata series by Ashok Banker. I have just started reading that series and I think its going to be even better than his Ramayana series.
So what did I learn while writing this…don’t go crazy about deadlines…Deadlines should be there to finish your book but don’t fall prey to their nagging and submit something that is not fully you