The Four Men

'Another day gone, we couldn't make a move,' Bipin said regretfully. We four men—Jatin, Lalit, Bipin, and myself, Raghav—were patiently observing the movements in the house across the road. That house was occupied by a single man, a senior citizen, and there was no other occupant. The domestic help came twice a day, once in the morning and made a second visit in the evening. She left the house after 10 pm when the old man had his dinner and retired for the night.

We were without work for the past three months and hardly had any money to subsist on. Our automobile company, where we worked, had fired us. There was mass sacking of employees. Most of the manual work would be done by robots now, so much of the human workforce had become redundant. Customer preferences and government incentives for producing electric vehicles had resulted in the promoters of the automobile company taking the drastic decision for which we had become unwanted and hence without work. So, the owners just kicked us out, some two hundred of us. From then onwards, we are trying our best to fend for ourselves.

But success was eluding us. Not succeeding to find work and income, we decided to tread on an uncharted path, sacrificing all ethics. Unable to bear poverty, we decided to banish honesty from our lives. So we four of us, boys now men, decided to tread the evil path, whatever be the consequence.

Every day for the past three months now, we used to come and sit near the tea stall opposite our factory gate, hoping to get a call back. But with no luck.

Then we decided to visit the 'Lakeside' area where the affluent lived. There were many senior citizens living in the area; some were just single as their spouses had passed away. Their children had left them for greener pastures elsewhere. They were all very affluent but had no one to take care of them. For most part of the day, they were alone when their domestic help departed. So they were very vulnerable.

This was an easy target, and we decided to exploit it and benefit from it. After much research, we targeted this old gentleman.

For days on end, we watched the movements in and around the house. We observed when the gentleman had his meals and when he retired to bed. After sufficient observation, we decided now it was time for some action.

We planned our action for a moonless night. The maid had left, and the gentleman had switched off the lights and safely retired for the night. We stealthily entered the compound and soon found ourselves at the front door.

We were surprised to find the door ajar. At first, we praised our good fortune. 'Our work has been made easy for us,' Lalit exclaimed with excitement. Jatin joined in by saying, 'I can't believe they have been so callous to not close the main door.'

'Let's be cautious,' I said. We just entered when we stopped at our steps when we heard a weak trembling voice but authoritative. 'Be steady, don't be afraid, just walk in and someone switch on the lights which are on the left wall,' said the voice that sounded like an old man.

We were taken totally by surprise and somewhat followed the orders like one possessed. Everyone had lost his independence, it seemed. No one ever in his wildest dreams had imagined this. We had been planning a break-in for the past three months now, and never imagined an entry so peaceful. No resistance. How was this possible?

After the lights were switched on, we found an old gentleman seated on an armchair. The room was pleasantly furnished. The man continued in his shaky voice.

He said that he knew that the four of us were planning a break-in for a long time. But circumstances were not allowing us to do the job. That he knew this surprised us. He said like as we were keeping an observation, he too was keeping vigil on us. The maid had suspected something amiss and had shared her concern with the old man. From then on, the old man had been planning his counteroffensive.

He said that he knew the tragedy that had befallen on us and he empathized with us for this. From the day that he had heard of the tragic news, he had been planning to do something constructive.

He didn't let us break in because that would be unlawful and would attract penal action against us. He believed we were men of honor and circumstances were compelling us to stoop so low. He said that he genuinely wanted to help us. We were feeling more and more intrigued by these strange developments.

He further continued with his deliverance. The old man said that he also was the owner of an automobile company once. In fact, it was the very company for which we had been working. Then what he said was an amazing story. The company had been founded by him. His innovative working style had resulted in a huge growth. But then jealousy and corporate boardroom battles erupted. This old man was unceremoniously removed from the board by the CEO he had appointed. So he came out and cornered most of the shares and offloaded them in the market. Mostly buyers were Foreign institutional investors. So he commanded a handsome price. With all the moolah in the bank, this man who prefers to stay anonymous, retired peacefully. He lived a quiet life amidst affluence and a happy one too. He had no kids of his own and after his wife passed away some five years ago he decided to give his wealth to some worthy beneficiaries. But he waited and could not find anyone who met his criteria.

Then he heard of our company firing good young people like us without going into the merits. So he decided to help us. But how? If he offered us money we may not accept due to our hurt ego. So he waited until the opportune time. The opportune time had come when we entered his house.

But then to avoid inheritance complications, he had converted his total wealth into cash slowly by slowly over the years. Now he was sitting over a mound full of currency notes ready for distribution. He showed us the gate to his vault and opened it for us to take over. He even knew that we were four, so he had divided the total amount into four parts. Finally, he offered us all of it.

We were dumbstruck to hear this amazing story. But we felt it irksome and shy to take the offer without us putting any labor into it.

Ready to take the cash finally when suddenly I heard a loud sound. Startled, I was jolted out of deep slumber. I was sleeping on the pavement as were my other friends. All with empty stomachs for the past couple of days, we all were in our world of dreams and surprisingly all our dreams were alike. Our empty stomach was the fodder for fantasy and wild dreams.

But then we started to search for the reason for our broken slumber.

The factory gates had opened and out came the CEO and offered us a job on the machine floor where the assembly is done for the new cars. That day was Dhanteras, the beginning of the Diwali festival, a time of goodwill and good fortune.