Laali

The mumbai trip had a lot to offer in terms of experiences. One of the sweet ones that I'd always remember was with a cute beggar girl.

Two days before the incidence I was street shopping in Mumbai and haggling over a few bottles of nail paint. In the end the price quoted still seemed expensive to me and I walked off, deciding to get it from Pune, which I was sure would be cheaper. And yes, I did manage to get it cheaper in Pune.

Once I joined my friends on the train at Pune, I was proudly showing off my collection of nail paints that I'd managed to get so cheap and discussing the long story of my bargaining skills. That's when this little girl passes by, my guess was she must be 6-7 yrs old, she was cleaning the floor. The moment she set eye on the shiny bottles having colorful liquids, her eyes had a strange expression, an expression I still don't have a term for. And she stood up extending her tiny hands saying, 'Hamein bhi laali laga do'. Usually I do not entertain these kids because I know If I give them money they'd forever stay in this business, never try to get away from it. But, her request seemed so innocent and sweet that I couldn't help myself. I tapped on my thighs asking her to put her tiny, smeared with dirt hands on them, so that I could apply the nail paint on those hardly visible nails. The train was shaky and given my nail painting skills I wasn't sure I'd do justice to those tiny nails. But not wanting to disappoint the little girl, I asked my friend to do the job. Throughout the process, the look on the little girl's face was so satisfying that suddenly the haggling over a 20 bucks worth nail paint and the whole story of it, seemed so futile. All that mattered after that was the the girl's glittering eyes and that innocent smile.