They Came At Sunset

It was the chill evening of January. There was no customer since morning thus making the day without the initial deal of the day ( Bohni). Shyama Devi was sitting on the cushion, feeling miserably bored. This is a beautifully decorated gold and silver jewelry shop, Suhagin Jewelers, in Sarafa Bazaar. Being in the bullion market for the last 30 years this establishment has made its honorable position for itself due to its honesty, efficiency, and practicality over the years. The owner of the shop Shyamal Kumar had gone somewhere due to some urgent work so he called his mother to sit in the shop to keep it open.

Shyamal had just returned then. His mother was about to open her mouth to complain about the boredom when she saw some customers climbing the stairs. She moved from the cushion and sat on a stool forgetting her complaint. She courteously welcomed the customers."Please come … take your seat.” They sat on the chairs kept near the counter.

They were three- a short and stout well dressed young woman with vermilion, bindi, powder, and lipstick, the second a middle-aged woman with normal makeup, and the third an aged old woman looking not less than eighty-five years with a white sari and the hair of the same color. She had a toothless face and was wearing a silver bangle. Moving her slender body she came up climbing the staircase with great difficulty, helped by the middle-aged woman.

"Yes, what should I show?" Shyamal looked at all the three in turn but his eyes got fixed on the young woman."

"She will tell you !" The young woman hinted through her eyes to the old woman who was sitting by the side of the middle-aged woman.

"Amma Ji, tell me what should I show?" asked Shyamlal.

"Show me the anklet, thick one.” The old woman told in a soft voice.

"See this, with the frill type, the fancy type, the traditional type, which is liked mostly by local women!" Shyamal arranged the pairs of anklets of various types, kept in polythene bags, on velvet trays.

"Not this, a little thick and long!" After seeing, the old woman began to move them towards the middle-aged woman for her choice.

"Show the screw type, not the hook type!" The old woman said. Shyamal spread before her the thick anklets of the screw type.

"It is very small. The person for whom we buy has Filariasis in her feet. Her feet have become thick. Show the biggest. The middle-aged woman saw the anklets closely and passed them to the young woman.

“Wow, what a taste!! How would a fat anklet look at the feet of a Filariasis patient.? "Shyama Devi felt something awkward.

"How does it matter for us? We have to sell our jewelry. "The vexation of day-long sitting had made her a little more practical.

"This is the normal length. It gets stretched with water. You do like this. Ask someone to wear this for some days and when it gets stretched, give it to her." Shyamal tried to explain it to them.

''How is it possible? It is better if the person for whom it is meant wears it. "

"Look, my anklet was also small initially. Tie a string to make it long for a few days. Thereafter it will get stretched automatically “Shyama Devi lifted her leg slightly and showed them. She had faith in her son. But there was a fear of the customers leaving  She saw Shyamal lifting and keeping the anklets inside. Probably the deal could not click.

"Even when she was aged it was not clear to her whether the anklet they were buying was for the daughter-in-law or daughter or the grandchild. She will not wear herself because she was a widow. Wherefrom she would have got the money?”How difficult it would have been to collect the money.

"See me; I don’t buy anything for my daughter- in -law like this.”Shyama Devi got lost in such thoughts.

“All the three got up to leave”.“You should have measured the length and come if it was so.” Shyamal was normal.

"You have to get them made to order." Shyama Devi had said. What to do? “Only when there is something useful, the customers will buy” she was thinking. By then the young woman was on the road, the middle-aged woman was bringing down the old woman through the shop’s staircase, holding her hand.

"Come, and see!" Shyamal leaned and took out more. Upon hearing his voice, they climbed up again.

"Keep the anklet!” Shyamal said in a slow but firm voice.

The young woman took out a pair of anklets and placed it on the counter."Aye, how can we buy now without paying the money? The middle-aged woman looked at the young woman and asked  sneeringly"Not paying money!" Knowing everything, the young woman asked."How can we pay now?"

''Bring out '' Shyamal whispered.

”There is nothing more.” saying this both came down the stairs of the shop fast. The old woman was left behind.

''Hold on, Hold on ! Where do you go? '' Shyamal kept on shouting but they had reached the road.

"Were they leaving after stealing?" Now Shyama Devi came to know something.

'Hold on! ... Hold on! Do not let the old woman go! Shyamal said, leaving the cushion and coming out.

Shyama Devi tightly grabbed the old woman’s hand and made her sit on the step of the staircase. The strong hand of hers was holding a weak hand that looked lifeless, but normal.

"Hold on! ... Hold on! They are running away after stealing. "Shyamal was coming down the stairs screaming and pointing towards them. The people walking on the road, the shopkeepers of the neatly aligned shops all were stunned. Seeing the crowd gathering, they both ran fast in different directions.“You chase and catch them “. Shyama Devi instructed her son.

Shyamal ran behind the middle-aged woman with full force. Another gentleman ran behind the young woman. There was an utter commotion in the crowd with the shout, “Hold on! ... Hold on! See their courage!”

"What did they take?" It’s good that you could detect it! ''

"Tell me who are those people, and from where they came?" Shyama Devi asked the old woman who was sitting on the stairs of the shop unconcerned.

“I am not aware of anything. I take medicine as I am not well.” She replied and remained silent...

"How is it that you don’t know? Tell, or else will be handed over to the police. "Someone asked. 

"Where do you live?”, Tell or else I will not leave you.." Shyama Devi believed that the old woman knew everything.

"Now I cannot tell they are our neighbors."The old woman changed the topic.

"Everything is known to you. Don’t you see your age? You are about to go under the funeral pyre but still, you indulge in such acts. Nobody will believe that you are a thief" Shyama Devi was astonished

There was a huge crowd on the road due to which the traffic was interrupted.

Shyamal succeeded in catching the middle-aged woman half a kilometer away from the market."Take out the anklet!" He told the woman, holding her wrist tightly.“See, I have nothing!" saying this woman removed her sari in the main market, Shyamal was bewildered.

“The woman is going to implicate for dishonor”, Shyamal could understand this without any loss of time. Shyamal, holding her hand, dragged her towards the shop. The crowd continued to speculate. All the shopkeepers were familiar with the shoplifting of these days. So the woman could not succeed in achieving her objective.

When Shyamal reached the shop with the middle-aged woman, just then Mani Bhai, the officer of the Sarafa Association, came holding the young woman. Both of them were put inside the shop and the shutters were brought down because many people had entered the shop. Both of them were trying to escape but Shama Devi held firmly one woman with one hand and the other woman with the other hand.

"We have not taken anything, let us go!" The young woman said. She was still fearless.

''Take out! ...Take out! Give the anklets "Shyamal said to her.

"We do not have anything," the young woman said.

By then it could be seen that a pair of anklets have fallen near the Anklet Counter. One of them had dropped it while entering. Shyamal picked them up and kept with him.."Remove your apron old woman!" Shyamal said in an imperative manner to the old woman sitting on the steps of the staircase. She quietly removed her apron and placed a pair of anklets on the hands of Shyamal. The crowd was wonderstruck.

''Take them out, you've still more with you. As soon as Shyamal said, the middle-aged woman again removed her sari. Manibhai folded his hands.' Wear it, mother! Who has asked you to remove your saree?”

"Let me go Amma!" The young woman pleaded to Shyama Devi trying to escape from her grasp.

"Come on, take it out! Son, call the police, we should not leave them like this”

"Shyamal called city Police Station and informed the crime branch about it.  

In the meantime, a pair of anklet was also dropped by the young woman, from where it was not known. Shyamal picked that one too and kept with him. Seeing the cleverness of hiding four pairs of anklets in a matter of seconds everyone got astonished.

"Now having recovered the lost items please give up the attack Amma”. The young woman said innocently and tried to get released but the annoyed Shayama Devi gave a slap which landed on her powdered cheek.

"Even the middle-aged woman was struggling hard to run away. Once she got released, but Shyama Devi caught her again and gave a hard punch on her jaw.

“Why don't you go up? '' The young woman started crying. 

"Do I steal?” You are the stigma in the name of the woman! My son sits in the morning to earn two paise and you people make merry with other’s things. Are you not ashamed to see this old woman bringing disgrace to the old people? "Shyama Devi started gasping because of anger and excitement.

''The policemen have come!” Police van stopped in front of the shop and the next moment it took away all the three of them in it. The crowd also got scattered

Shyamal went along with the recovered anklets to get the report lodged, some people went to give testimony. Shyama Devi was left alone in the shop when another shopkeeper came and told that those people had gone to his shop first and knocked off a few items. He too went to the police station to identify them. After this, two shopkeepers came, from whose shops the trio had stolen two gold chains and two necklaces. They were also sent to the police station by Shyama Devi.

After reaching the police station, they changed their color completely. The old woman started pretending to be unconscious, both women started shedding tears copiously."Leave us, we have small children, If our people hear this they will turn us out from the house."Stop the drama! Now you will have to go to jail! When the duty cop scolded them, the young woman got furious and grabbed her earphone.

“Let us talk to our people. ''

"Brother, leave us! We admit our mistake. From today; we shall not step into this market! "The middle-aged woman told."Excuse us brother, we have done a mistake!" The young woman also started shivering."Now you have come to the police station, you have to write the report."Tell your name"! Constable asked the old woman, "Dayavati!"

''Where do you live ?''

"In Shiva temple of Amapara!"

''Who are these people ?''

"One is my daughter-in-law, Satyavathi Pandey, and the other is my granddaughter Malti Pandey!" The eyes of the old woman were tilted downward.

"Do you do this with the whole family?"The constable asked teasingly.

"How do you live there?"

"My son is a priest in the temple!

"Fie! Fie!! People like you only, denigrate the temples. "

"Sir, my son gets rupees one thousand five hundred only and the offerings are not much these days. What to eat and what to feed? Under compulsion we become addicted. "For the police officer, it is a daily routine. Shyamal must have felt ashamed.

Wearing a dhoti-kurta, and with a tilak, on his forehead the priest reached the police station. He first accepted the mistake and then started apologizing to Shyamal and the officials of the police station.

"Do not write the report, brother. I give the penalty for the crime committed to you all!" Perhaps he was behind his family members to help them out.

"Leave it, man! See, if the matter gets aggravated it may be a great disgrace for our religion, and how long will we be fighting the case in the court?"So many articles will be seized, and when they will get released nobody knows.' It is also not necessary that the people will get punished; They will be let off on bail immediately. "Shyamal withdrew his report after seeing the futility of all harassment. Pandit Ji paid the penalty and apologized to the other shopkeepers and police station officials for damages.

THE END

RobberyJewelleryThug

शामढलीवोआईपढ़ें Tulsi Tiwari

https://storymirror.com/read/story/hindi/pyuh3bho/shaam-ddhlii-vo-aaii/detail?undefined