Stumped

On the onset of writing this story I would like to mention that this is not a work of fiction but a story based on real incidents that happened to my Uncle.                             

 Giri, Giri where are you? Yelled Guru early in the morning. He was calling out to his servant who had not yet cleaned the shop and its premises. Guru had a habit of lighting a lamp in front of the gods image that was present in a corner of the shelf in his Shop that sold all nitty gritty needed in daily life for every one of us. Giri was his assistant who helped him in looking after everything in the Shop from sales to purchase and so on. During COVID the business was not so good but now it was slowly getting back to normal with increased number of customers and sales thay was thriving. Giri was pleased and was busy counting money He was a very shrewd business man with a small negative aspect in his persona that was okay for him but not at all okay for others. Now let me tell you what that negative aspect was He was a miser to the hilt No amount of requesting would make him feel obliged to shell even a penny even if some one was in dire need of money. It was only Giri who dared to work with him for a meagre amount that would be increased at a snail's pace So, in this set up let us see how some interesting events happened that are slightly funny and catchy too.  

    As usual Guru was sitting at the cash counter in his Shop. Giri was busy attending to the customers who were quite good in number. Guru was very happy counting the number and the cash also obviously. After an hour so when the customers had left, Guru was sipping his tea while Giri was waiting for his cup of tea, you see he would get it only after Guru finished his cup of tea and only if something was left in the flask so miserly !! They notice a young man entering the Shop with a sling bag and some kind of a file in his hand . Guru felt nice that one more customer who looked decent was entering his shop expectedly to buy something thought Guru. The young man entered the Shop and Giri was right in front of him to attend to him. The young man was looking around. Giri asked him Yes, what do you want? Are you looking for something) Immediately the young man with folded hands points at his mouth and ear as if meaning that he is deaf and dumb.

On being questioned by Guru now he hands over the file that he carried with him. . It was a letter written by the head of a Village ( Sarpanch) of a nearby Village that stated that this young man was deaf and dumb since birth so if anyone wanted to help him they could give him some money . . Of all the people that person had come to a miser for help. As the person introduced himself in a sign language kind of gestures , Guru got alerted. He was damn sure that the person was putting an act to make some fast money. He had a Smile on his face that looked so sarcastic. But, the fellow did not bother and he kept on narrating his ordeals of course in Sign form only. There were few customers who were coming in , purchasing whatever they wanted and we're going out of the Shop. Guru was getting irritated . He wanted to get that person out without him asking for any money from Guru. He tried all methods along with Giri to check whether he was really a deaf and dumb person. But, he continued with the same story inspite of all their attempts to prove him otherwise. Now it was lunch time. Guru was feeling hungry and so was Giri.

They waited for sometime and went to their cabin and finished their lunch one after the other. The deaf and dumb stranger continued to wait and wait. He continued to stare at Guru and Giri with sympathetic face as if questioning them as to what kind of people you are, you don't have any consideration for people in trouble.     After sometime that is by evening Guru's neighbour Karan came to his Shop to enquire about something. He was curious to see as to why one person kept standing without anyone attending to him. Guru quietly conveyed the whole matter. But, Karan being soft hearted believed the strangers plight and offered him a hundred rupee note. The stranger's face lit up immediately and he gave a glance of gratitude to Karan and a glance of anger towards Guru. This irked Guru and he showed the door to the stranger. The Stranger started to walk out of the Shop and something strange happened that changed the entire scenario. By chance Guru dropped a few coins from his cash box that fell on the ground making a sound that prompted the Stranger to check his pockets and on the floor too.

Now, Now the Stranger was no deaf and dumb person. He had somehow gotten a certificate mentioning his defects which he was using to cheat gullible people who sympathised with him. So, on getting caught off guard he silently slipped out of the Shop. Whatever happened was a sort of feather in Guru's cap, he did not heed to any request, he did not give even a penny to the Stranger and proved he was way beyond cunning than any one and had a great presence of mind. Viola what a hat-trick.