Passing Through A Village

It was a dark moonless night and Nick had just got off a truck which he had hitched a ride on. 

He looked around and found himself standing on the outskirts of a small village. He wanted to get another ride but it looked like it was not to happen for a few hours. 

He was used to this and just sat on the milestone by the side of the highway. He looked at the time on his watch, it said 2:15 a.m. He lit a beedi, a taste he had developed on his rides on the highways. 

He was hungry and his stomach growled. He checked his satchel and there was nothing in there that he could eat. 

A villager was on a bicycle and he was passing Nick when he heard Nick’s stomach growl and stopped and said “You look hungry sir, please come to my shop. I will get you something to eat.” 

Nick was not surprised by this sort of thing anymore. Being hospitable was a way of life in the villages and small towns. Nick followed him and they reached a small shop that was shut. 

The villager opened it and turned on the one bulb that was there as a light source. It was a sort of general store but really tiny. The villager picked up a few packets of biscuits and offered them to Nick. Nick took them gratefully and offered to pay. The villager would not hear of it. 

While Nick opened the biscuit packet, the villager went to the back and got a small bottle of water and kept it near Nick. Nick smiled and nodded thank you. 

They sat in silence as Nick ate the biscuits and washed them down with the water. The villager asked him if his hunger was satisfied. 

Nick nodded and said “Thank you. That was very kind of you to open your shop in the middle of the night for me. When do the trucks pass by your village in the morning?” 

The villager replied “Around 5 a.m. Are you headed north or south?” 

“North” replied Nick. 

The villager was a man of modest means and wanted to offer Nick something more but Nick would not hear of it. They spoke for a while and then Nick excused himself to go take a piss. He went out and looked for a hedge where he could do the needful. 

When he returned, the villager told him that he could rest there till the trucks started in the morning. He told him to just shut the door to the shop on the way out. 

“We do not have thieves in our village. You won’t need to lock it” and got up to leave. 

Nick thanked him profusely as he got on the bicycle and went his way. 

Nick looked at the time, it was 3 a.m and decided that a couple of hours of shut eye would be good and he turned off the single light bulb and lay down for a nap. 

It seemed like just a few minutes had passed by and he was woken up by the villager who told him that it was 6 a.m and that he had flagged a truck for him to take a ride on. It was someone he knew and he was willing to wait till Nick got ready. 

Nick got up and rinsed his mouth with some water and followed the villager to the truck and said thank you as he got on the truck. 

He smiled at the truck driver and it was the Sikh who had given him a ride a few weeks earlier. 

The Sikh nodded at him and the truck moved on. Nick smiled and thought to himself “Only in India!”

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