Life has ways to make you humble when you think you have outgrown your shoes.It comes in ways you expect least but teaches you the lesson which would be hard to forget.

It was Sunday noon and sun as is the case these days,was glaring down mercilessly.Me and some mates had just had our luch in a restaurant (Well, i know it's a bit of an overstatement!) nearby.I decided to brave the sun and walk down.Smoke feels like Nirvana after luch, so a stop by was must.

Smoking without company can play havoc with an empty mind.It can make you feel like you are the ruler of this world.As i was providing some raw smoke to my lungs and massaging my ego, i could see the old coconut vendor across the road.One look and you could sense the hardships this sixty year old might have  gone through in life.I decided to sip some coconut water, health ka health or thoda help bhi ho jayega bechare ko.

I walked over to him.Don't know hwy i wanted to test him.I decided that i will bargain and then ultimately pay whatever he had asked for initially.You know dirty tactic to buy some false sense of gratitude from the old man.

"Chacha, kya bhaav diye naariyal?"

"Chouda, pandrah, solah"

" ya gyarah, barah, terah"

"Nahi bhai.Aapse jyada nahin lenge.Mausam garmi ka hai, bhaav badh gaye hai."

"thik hai, ek zyada paaniwala dedo, choudahwala.malai nahin chahiye."I don't need those extra shots of fat, even in their purest form.health conscious hun bhai.

"Choudah me to paaniwala nahin milega.Aap pandrahwala le lijiye.Kam daamwalewale me garmi ke karan malai jam jaati hai."

"thik hai." I saw the heap of coconuts on the floor as Shataram started to find the one that would suit me.I wondered what the skinny, battered old man did for storing as he was operating from a roadside makeshift cart.

"Aur ye pura nariyal ka dher aap raat ko ghar le jaate ho?"

'Haan bhai.Ghar le jate hai." How does he manage it? Shantaram had cut a coconut- the one brimming with pure divine water by now.I gulped it down.Felt like such a bliss.Now was the time to pay.

I pulled out a 50 rupee note, i was supposed to pay him 15 Rs.Shata did not have enough change.He asked for a five rupee coin, i had one.He searched the tattered pockets of his vest.Count was forty.

"Chacha, thik hai.Tees rupiye de dijiye."

"Nahin bhai, jitna thik hai utna hi loonga.Ruko main chhootta le aata hun."

" Chacha rakh lijiye, mere pass paanch rupiye hai, lekin aap bees rupiye rakh lijiye.Chinta mat kijiye."

Extra five bucks spent won't hurt me but it would help him for sure, i thought.A small gesture to make someone's life a little better.I was already feeling good about myself.

Shantaram did not budge.He gave me forty bucks.

" Aapse jitna thik hai utna hi loonga.Jyada loonga to khuda ke ghar manjoor nahin hoga."

It shook me completely.I never felt so small.I gave him five rupees and started walking back.

"Khooda ke ghar manjoor nahin hoga".... words still echo in my mind.You might have all the wealth in the world, but values and humbleness is what makes you truely rich.And i wonder what stupid excuses we give ourselves to cheat to make that extra buck.

Thank you Shantaram.