TOY SELLER

TOY SELLER PART 2

The city council does not allow street vendors anymore. They are only permitted to sell their merchandise in a specific place allocated for them, that's too only on Sundays. This is one of the transformations in systematizing the cities and towns to make sure the road safety and protect the legal businesses that pay tax.

But, there was someone breaking the rules. This toy seller had a small shelf placed on the floor, stacked his toys, in front of the 'Bread-shop' bakery. He had small cars, helicopters, trucks, tops, and dolls, etc.,

He is probably at the age of forty or around, had a "Patani' look. His blue colored Jubba (Shalwar Kameez) had already lost its color and blanched. His long beard had noticeable grey hairs. He flew his Airplane, showing a demo to attract by-passers. There was an old woman standing there bargaining for a Beko while her, supposed to be, a grandkid pulls her Saree, Irking her to buy it.

'Poor kid, Ammey, I'll put down further Fifty okay. Good price!!' you don't get this always' he used his selling techniques.

"Sir, what do you want?' the guy in the counter looked into my eyes. The aroma of hot cakes in the oven wafted in the ambient and I was craving already.

'Three cream doughnuts and one sugar doughnut, no plastic wrappers' I requested.

'Get all doughnuts pink' I warned. He smiled back peculiarly as I'd said something seriously offensive.

'Okay sir, here go, all pink doughnuts as you wish'

'Well, pink, my daughters favorite color' I explained. He smiled back.

'Why even explain anyone about our personal choices, let them think whatever they want' inner critic rebuked. Unfortunately, this is a Sri Lankan way of communication. Our worries for others (?) outdo the self-worries and plus we try to put explanations for everything we do. Like It or not people have too much liberty to poke their noses.

The toy seller outside the shop made sure to keep an eye on bakery customers. He flew a helicopter in a circular motion and it returned back to him in seconds, making a 'zzzzz' sound.

He picked a small plastic car and twirled the motor. He gave me an Innocent look while I was waiting for my change at the cashier.

He let the fully whirled car on the floor; the car went almost four to five feet away and took a reverse.

'Laabay...Laabay...Hemadaama Ney...' He shouted nonstop.

'Pee..mp...' Someone in the hot waters on the road, startling honk diverted my attention.

'Sir. Toys' I heard the toy guy calling me at the back. 'Hajee..Get a beautiful car for your son, a doll for your daughter' I just kept walking. Why should I bother the strangers? I felt something snapped under my feet suddenly, a tiny creature?, I tried to lift my feet ...but...In the blink of an eye..turning back I find a smashed toy car topsy-turvy, completely disfigured. The toy car had all the way peeped into my feet.

'Assalamu alaikum...Hajee....You broke my car' the seller walked to me raising his voice as if I deliberately stepped on.

'It is your mistake, who allowed you to put up a stall in the walkway and play your toys?' I argued.

'That's not your problem hajee, you pay the cost because you broke it' he argued back.

'It's haram for you, hajee' he threw a judgment.

The word 'Hajee' and 'Mohammed' have lost its meaning totally. In the Middle East, the Arabs call every stranger 'Mohammed', while making no effort to find out their real names. If you meet a Sri Lankan Muslim, you will be called 'Hajee', It doesn't matter whether you performed hajj or not.

'I am not going to pay you a single rupee, you pay me for wasting my time, and you aren't even allowed to sell in footpaths. If you trouble I'll call the police' I lost my temper. I continued my walk ignoring his yells.

As soon as I got into the car, she quizzed 'What happened?' I sighed.

Pointing at me, the toy seller was giving a lecture to the crowd. I'd one eye on him through the shutter. 'Is he asking me to wait? Or cursing me, whatever, who cares..'

Surely, Nazrin saw what happened, yet, she wants my mouth to open.

I gathered a bit poise 'You know these plastic vendors. They are the real felons, don't they? The scientists say by 2050 our ocean will be fifty percent polluted by plastics, they emit harmful chemical into our ecosystem. You are right dear, Government should ban plastics and plastic sellers' I tried to cover up.

' IC, Sir, Is that you talking? By the way, that's a completely different topic, I asked you what happened with the toy seller?'' she asked.

'You saw it right?' I said as putting my seat belt.

'Yeah, I saw you break that poor guy's rIzk (Sustenance). Why not pay him his cost' she deplored, the toy seller seems to have won so much sympathy around.

I Interfered ' It was his fault, first of all, It's an Illegal stall that steals from genuine traders, second, he disrupts the path making people hard to walk and third It was him, sent a toy under my feet, only to get broken. Now tell me whose mistake?' I screamed.

'You only see toys there, but, I see a destitute family behind those little toys' she took a paper napkin and wiped her sweat in the forehead. She looked daggers at me.

'Removing street vendors and beggars will be common-sense only when we can create jobs or means for their living' she stressed.

'I got doughnuts for you' I handed her favorite sugar doughnut. She snatched and zipped It Inside her handbag, without much love.

'Naz. You can't have double standards, you can't hate plastic bags and at the same time love plastic made cars..' I talked to myself, sardonically. She said nothing.

But, later in the evening when I came to my sense (and when shaytan was absence, of course, I regretted my behavior. Just two or three hundred rupees. I could have compensated even though it wasn't my fault. I self-reproached. There was a sense of irritation traversed inside.

'You only see toys there, but, I see a destitute family behind those little toys' Nazrin's words resonated.

'I will meet the guy coming Sunday' I took an oath.

But, He never came back again. 'Never'. I kept going there every Sundays. It's already six months passed. 

(Non-English words - Ammey - Mum, Labay - Cheap, Hemadama ne - You don't get this offer every day,  Rizk - Sustenance, Haji - a Muslim who has been to Mecca as a pilgrim - Assalamualaikum - Islamic greeting, means Peace be upon you)