Ferdu was a retired person. He retired from railways. He was a peon in railways. After retirement he opened a 'khokha' just opposite and a road across to my house. He used to sell pan,cigarettes and bidi there.
Ferdu told me that he was a lonely person. When he retired he had none of his relatives alive. So he used to come to the shop early in the morning and leave late in the evening. Nobody knew where he was residing.
He was very lean and thin, of about five feet in height and had a very dark complexion. His skin of face was full of wrinkles. There was not a single positive point in his personality. He was a very short tempered person and had no friends and only a few customers. He was a patient of asthma and a chain smoker of bidis. I always visited him at his shop and provided him some medicines for his asthma. In return he always paid me a very weak but wicked smile.
Some of the naughty boys of the colony almost daily used to come to his shop and used to say him 'FUDDU'. And this altered name always irritated Ferdu and he always started shouting and abusing the boys. But as usual boys did not stop teasing him until Ferdu started throwing stones over them. Seeing his reaction, the boys laughed and clapped and enjoyed. The boys used to reappear again after a short time and again the whole episode was repeated. I saw this thing to happen again and again for so many years.
One day I heard that Ferdu was dead at that very shop. I went to the shop and certified that Ferdu was dead. I requested the crowd for the preparation of his funerals. But nobody gave ear to my request.
After a short period of time those naughty boys gathered at the scene. They all were sad and weeping a lot. They sat around the body of Ferdu and mourned his death. After some time they realized that Ferdu had no relatives and no other person was ready to arrange the funerals. So they took this responsibility. They inquired about the religion of Ferdu. But no one amongst the crowd knew the religion of Ferdu. The boys were Hindu so they decided to do the funerals as per Hindu religion. They contributed their Pocket money for this. Some persons also donated the money. Boys did all the arrangements for funerals. They did this as his sons could do.
I was amazed to see this mysterious relation. This relation developed out of hatred of Ferdu with the boys and a play of teasing and applauding of boys with Ferdu. 'O' life how many colors you have?
(Contributed by Dr Anil Kumar Jain)
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