It was drizzling but we didn't care. My friend Arun was to return back home the next day and he wanted to loot the city for gifts for his family. I having been staying in Mumbai for quiet some time, felt morally obliged to assist him in the noble venture .To be frank, I hate shopping. So, to make it a little interesting and adventurous, we decided to go to a stolen-goods market. Now, the particular market we targeted had a reputation of being the haven for thieves and hence treasure hunters like us flocked it hoping to find cheap deals. You'll find practically everything there, from cheap contraband wristwatches to stolen imported cars and all you need to have is a razor sharp tongue and a pair of hard-to-squeeze balls to get lucky. And we were very sure we possessed both the required organs. Personally I felt a pair of horses and cowboy hats would be appropriate for the occasion but this being no wild west, we hired a rickshaw and left for the Abdul Rehman Road market.


Rain is the eternal spoilsport in any adventure that is not part of a Hollywood movie or a NGC documentary on the great anacondas. And by the time we reached the market it was literally pouring and the sky had turned dark. The market,contrary to my over-the-top imagination, was no secret dockyard market with shady characters in long overcoats and over-sized hats moving in shadows. It looked like any other marketplace in Mumbai - small brightly lit shops with goods overflowing onto the roads, roadside vendors in their makeshift tents with their wares strewn vulgarly in front, the incessant sound of shoes splashing the murky pothole water, slippers clapping against the toes, pattering of the rain drops on the plastic tents of the vendors, out of control rickshaws zigzagging between the narrowest of gaps defying all laws of motion, street urchins dancing in the rains and ghostly streams of steam from the tea stalls rising up into the air. Many of the shops had already closed for the day and the remaining ones were gathering their wares in preparation of closing down. So we quickly got into the act, rolled up our pants and prowled the market.


After having covered almost half of the market in an hour and a half ,we had in our bags a pair of leather belts,a pair of shoes,some junkie bracelets and a cool leather pouch and were lighter by a thousand rupees.So much for our loot. Realizing that this was simply not going our way, we decided to make a hasty retreat and maybe come back the next day morning. The lanes were pretty much deserted by now and some were already taken over by the overzealous street dogs. Completely drenched,tired and having lost all the excitement of our supposedly looting spree, we walked slowly down the maze of lanes in search of a rickshaw.


He was standing there under the roof of a closed shop when we walked past him. Except for the part of his face lit by the cigarette, he was just a shadow. His blood shot eyes were staring at us. I had heard a fair deal of stories about this place and was quick to realize that we are now marked. So I paced up and Arun taking the cue, followed me. We walked briskly through one lane to another and then to the other without reaching anywhere. After half an hour walking in the limbo we stopped to take stock of the situation. As we sat on the stairs of a closed shop, a frail voice came from somewhere.

Voice : You guys want a mobile phone?

I looked all around and found no one.

Voice : I am here.

From the shadows of the adjoining walls emerged the same guy we were running from.

He was a small frail guy with a sunken face. There was nothing suspicious in him except for the bloodshot eyes. His clothes were old and ragged. The coat was over-sized, shoes muddy and he smelt like dead mice.The cigarette dangled carelessly from the side of his lips and little puffs of smoke escaped into the air at random intervals. He sat down beside us on the stairs. His vulnerable appearance gave me the confidence to speak.

I : What do you want?

He : Nothing.You wanna have a nice mobile phone?

I : We don't need no mobile phone. Leave us alone.

He : I'll give you cheap. Its good. Take a look at it.

Arun : "We don't wanna look at anything. We are getting late. I have a train to catch tomorrow. Lets leave now.

I : "Yeah we are late already and its raining. We don't have time.

He : Make some time guys otherwise you will regret it.

Arun : Regret? Why should we regret? Are you threatening us?

I : We will look at it sometime else. We live nearby and come down here regularly.

He : But I won't be around.

I : Sorry but maybe some other time. We're in a hurry now. Bye.

Arun : Yeah, bye.

And we rose to leave.

He : Whats the harm in having a look at it? If you don't like it, no problem. Here it is.

He brought out a packet from his coat pocket. Carefully he removed the rubber bands wrapped around the yellow packet and opened the packet.

He : See this is the latest mobile, the best in the market.

The mobile set indeed looked one of the latest high-end stuff. And it looked brand new too.

He : Isn't it nice ? You can take photos,call your friends, video record also. This is I say the best. You should have it.

I : Yeah it looks good. But why you selling it?

Arun : 'Is it stolen or something?

He : Yes I stole it today. Don't ask from where. I'll give this away to you real cheap. I need money to buy drinks.

That explained everything. Here is a drunkard who steals things and sells for the price of a few drinks. I smelt an opportunity here. Nevertheless, I was apprehensive about standing in a lonely lane and talking to a thief. Maybe he was a trickster, maybe the police is waiting around the corner waiting to catch us in the act or maybe this junkie's friends are hiding somewhere to loot us. So, I decided not to get tempted and make a run.

I : Its nice stuff alright but we don't have any money with us right now. Maybe sometime later we will buy it from you.

He : I don't steal things daily, at least not such high-end stuff . You won't even get this in the showrooms . Today is your lucky day. Had it not been raining, I would have auctioned it for any price I like. Don't think, take it . Its damn cheap.

Arun : How much is it ?

He : Only three grands. Its nothing.The market price is some twenty grands.

My eyes gleamed hearing the price. It was indeed dirt cheap. The first instinct was to hand him the three grands and run away with the mobile. But the tales of the tricksters quickly brought me to senses and I played hard.

I : Yeah its cheap.And I might want to buy it but we don't have that much cash upon us right now. We will come back tomorrow.

He : Come on I told you already I won't be here tomorrow. And someone else might buy it.

I : Then sell it to that someone.Why are you dogging us anyway ?

He : Why are you being angry? Okay, gimme two grands and you'll have it. It can't get any better than this. I will show you what nice photos it takes.

He held the mobile in front of my face and clicked.

He : One of your friend too.

Then he took a snap of my friend's face. We took the mobile in our hands and watched the pictures. The pictures were of very good quality and even with such poor lighting the photos were amazingly clear. I was hooked and even more was Arun. I could sense his excitement by the way he was continuously nudging and pinching my hands. He had lost his mobile phone in the local train such a few days back and this offer must have been like god-sent for him.

I : Okay this looks good but the price is still out of our budget. We can only pay one grand for this.

The junkie smirked and placed the mobile phone in the packet. Then carefully tied it with the rubber band and put it back in his dirty coat pocket.

He : You simply wasted my time. You want a twenty grands worth mobile for a single grand. Either you are an idiot or you think I am one. Good bye.

And he walked away.

Arun dragged me to a corner and spoke under clenched lips.

Arun : What the heck are you doing? Have you lost your senses? This is the deal of a lifetime. A twenty grand worth mobile for two grands. Can you believe it ?

I : But I have only five hundred bucks with me now. Do you have the rest fifteen hundred ?

Arun : Shit, I have only eleven hundred left with me. Make him agree for fifteen hundred so that we will have one hundred left to get back to the hotel.

I : Okay, lemme try. Lets call him back.

So we walked fast in the direction he had gone and found him standing near a half closed shop buying something. He saw us and signaled to stay at the other side of the road. He lighted a cigarette, surveyed the surroundings and then signaled with his eyes to follow him. We followed him to a nearby alley and stood in the dark.

I : Look, this is our final offer. We have total sixteen hundred and out of it we need one hundred to get back to the hotel. So we can only pay you fifteen hundred. That's it.

He thought it over and took a long sigh.

He : Okay done. Because you look like good guys I'll give it to you for fifteen hundred. But remember this is total loss for me. I'm giving it just out of good will.

Arun : Yeah we appreciate it very much. You are a good guy. Thank you very much.

He : That's okay. But be very careful and hide the packet in your socks or somewhere. Its dangerous here you know. Police,thugs,thieves all prowl these lanes.

He took the packet out of his pocket and stuffed it into Arun's pant pocket quickly. Now my heart was pounding and hands had become stone cold. I could see Arun sweating profusely. I fumbled into my pockets and took out my wallet.

I : Here....here, have this five hundred.

He : Five hundred ? I thought we talked something about fifteen hundred, isn't it ?

Arun : Yeah yeah wait. I'm giving the rest. Wait.

Arun groped for his wallet for what seemed like hours and finally paid the amount.

Arun : Here it is. Okay ?

He : Okay. You are damn lucky guys. Be careful and get away as quick as possible. Good bye now.

I : Yeah yeah, good bye. Lets go Arun.

We turned around and were about to walk when the junkie called again.

He : Hey here take this hundred bucks. I maybe a thief but I've a heart and you guys are good fellows. Take it. You might need it.

He handed over a hundred bucks note to me and smiled understandingly. I could not but feel a strange sense of gratitude towards the junkie.

I : Thank you. Thank you so much.

Arun : Yeah you are a good guy. Thank you.

So, Arun and me turned around and tried walking as fast as what we thought will be necessary given the gravity of the situation and also not look suspicious to anyone. We didn't look back at all.

I : Hey Arun, put that packet in your socks dude. Remember what he had said ?

Arun : Oh yes I remember. Lets find a lonely spot quickly.

We stopped at a dark corner and Arun stuffed the packet into his socks. It bulged out oddly but our reasoning was it being dark and raining no one will notice. And then we continued towards the main road. All the while we kept scanning the surroundings for any suspicious activity like someone following us or some cop watching us or anything of that sort. Thankfully nothing like that happened and we reached the semi-deserted main road soon.

We hailed the next available rickshaw and jumped into it. Our heart was still pounding and it took some time to settle down. The feeling of fear and apprehension having died down, now the sense of achievement grew upon us. We had managed to get a twenty grands mobile phone for almost free. This is what you call a real loot. Again I felt a pair of horses and cowboy hats would be appropriate for the occasion. The last time I had this kind of feeling was when I had came first in the class exams without having studied anything. You get a feeling of having 'it' in you. Your confidence boosts up and ego inflates like a balloon. I could well imagine the amazement on my friends' faces when I'll narrate the whole incident to them. Maybe I'll write a story about it.

I looked at Arun who sat beside me. We had not exchanged a single word for almost the ten minutes we got into the rickshaw. He was recovering from the experience.

I : You alright buddy ?

Arun : Yeah.....I'm fine. Phew.That was cool dude. Now I realize why people call Mumbai as the land of oppurtunities. If you got the balls to take risk, you can get anything here. This is so damn cool.

I : Yeah and we did it.

Arun : Yes...Yes....Yes...

Arun was now screaming in ecstasy.

I : Okay...okay. Cool down now. Lets have a look at our loot buddy.

Arun : Oh yeah. How can I forget that? My new mobile phone. Yuppie.

He rolled up his pant,extracted the yellow packet and held it high like some symbol of victory. After some more dramatics, he placed the packet on his lap and unwrapped the rubber bands slowly like he was performing some tantric ritual. Then he held up the packet in front of both of us and with a sudden exaggerated movement of his hand, took off the lid.


For the next five minutes which seemed like eternity, none of us spoke a single word. I could hear neither the sound of the rickshaw engine nor the pattering of the raindrops on the rickshaw hood. I could hear nothing except for Arun's regular deep sighs followed by mine own. We were communicating through sighs. Somehow sigh language seemed to be the only appropriate form of communication at that time.

In between both of us lay the yellow packet with a piece of soap cut in the shape of a mobile phone placed neatly in it.

Arun : Why did he give us back the hundred bucks ?

I : Ethics I guess.

Arun : Yeah, Ethics of a scoundrel.

Want to comment on this Short Stories? Sign up to Edit Red and you will be able to comment on Short Stories and get access to: Upload your own stories and poems, get readers and their feedback, promote your work...