Resurrected

  “If you do not mind can I ask you how you reached this level of success?” Zaib asked Iveil.

  Hearing this, Iveil looked at Merlin and her smile encouraged him to answer.

  Iveil said, “I shall tell it to you in a story form. A story about the turning point of my life.”

  Zaib smiled and encouraged him to go on.

  Iveil started by saying, “When I was about twelve years old, my father died due to a heart attack. The responsibility to run the house came on me. I had to take care of my family. Therefore, I had to start working part time after school. The entire day’s work sapped my energy and I couldn’t study at all. Somehow, I completed school and then decided to become a full time taxi driver.

  One day, I couldn’t get any passenger. In the afternoon, one man came to me and said, “Take me to Green Wood Apartment.”

  When we reached there, he asked me to stop and then a beautiful lady opened the door and sat beside him.

  He later looked at me and said, “Take us to any good restaurant.”

  I thought for a while and said, “Sir, The Taj Mahal Palace is a famous and best hotel at Apollo Bunder but it is very far and expensive. We have a local restaurant just nearby…”

  “Take us to the best restaurant even if it is far,” the man commanded.

  He then looked at the beautiful girl and yelled, “Why did you force me to take a leave today? My full day’s salary is gone because of you.”

  The pretty girl got scared. She replied politely, “It is my birthday and I want to celebrate it with the person whom I love the most.”

  The man wasn’t convinced. He said “We could have celebrated it even on a Sunday. We talk on the phone daily.”

  The girl asked sadly, “Don’t you want to meet me on my birthday and make me feel happy?”

  The man got angry and said, “Why should I always do everything to please you? My new job is more important to me than making you happy. I have to take care of my career else how shall I maintain my family with all the luxuries?”

  The girl got annoyed hearing this. She said “You only think about yourself. I am your girlfriend, don’t I deserve some of your time?”

  “I do not have time to waste on my girlfriend. It’s time to build my career.”

  “If this was the case why did you waste time to have lunch with me?” asked the disheartened pretty girl.

  “I really feel stupid to take leave just to celebrate your birthday. Next time do not expect it from me,” the man was too blunt in his reply.

  Hearing such harsh words, she began to cry.

  “Have I spoiled your birthday? Then I must not waste any more time here,” saying this he stopped the taxi, opened the door and went away.

  The beautiful girl and I as driver kept staring at him till he was completely out of sight. I looked behind and saw the girl’s beautiful fair face turned red with tears. I thought even she would get down but she sat in the cab and kept weeping. I did not feel it right to disturb her while she was crying. I parked my taxi at the side.

  After some time, she stopped crying and said, “Take me to that restaurant where you were going to take us.”

  I was amazed at this sentence. I did not ask anything but took my taxi to the Taj Mahal hotel. On reaching, she opened the door of taxi. She then said, “Wait till I come back.” and went away to the restaurant.

  A few minutes later I heard some song playing in my taxi. I checked the radio in my taxi but it was off. I started looking into my taxi to figure out the source from which the sound was coming. Finally I found out that a cell was ringing on the rear seat. I realized it belonged to the lady who had just gone to the restaurant.

  I wondered if the call was urgent for her. What if she found out later that she has lost her phone? With the intention of giving it back to her, I went inside the hotel. I saw her sitting with her hand on her head as if she was lost in some thoughts. A menu was kept on the table. I went near the table but she did not notice me. So I went to her and said, “Madam, you have forgotten your cell phone in the cab and somebody has been calling you.” I gave her the phone.

  The beautiful lady looked at me. I could see the sadness in her eyes. Yet she smiled at me and said, “I had purposely kept my phone in the cab because I wanted to be with myself and away from people.” Saying this she kept the cell in her purse.

  I felt stupid to go to the hotel. So I apologized and started to leave.

  She called out and said, “Please have lunch with me.”

  I looked at her and said, “Sorry madam, I cannot afford lunch in Taj.”

  She smiled back and said, “My treat. You are an honest person and I am happy to meet you.”

  She asked me to sit with her. I felt happy to have my lunch in such a posh hotel, so I sat down. She handed the menu to me and I ordered my lunch. She was again lost in her thoughts and I sat observing her sad face. I recollected that it was her birthday and wished her not to be sad that day. So I started the conversation though I was sure that this high class beautiful will not respond to me. Still I wanted to try.

  I said, “Madam you have a kind heart otherwise nobody cares for the honesty of a taxi driver.”

  The lady was friendly. She replied, “I am not in a good mood today therefore your little good deed had made me happy for some time.”

  I couldn’t control myself and said, “Please do not spoil your mood because of someone else at least on your birthday.”

  She stared at me and asked, “How did you know that today is my birthday?” I realized my stupidity to speak about her birthday.

  I told the truth, “I heard it from your conversation with the gentleman sitting beside you.”

  I felt she would be angry and might yell at me for hearing her personal conversation. But her response was different. She looked at me and said “You are indeed an honest man. It is a universal truth that when two people speak loudly the driver hears it but many pretend like they did not hear it and fool you. Only brave people like you speak out that they have heard.”

  At that time, the waiter came and started serving us our food. I was very hungry and looking at the food, I started eating very fast.

  She looked at me and said, “Don’t eat so fast, the food will not run away.”

  I started laughing and she too began to laugh. After lunch, I opened the door for her and we left the restaurant. I dropped her to her destination.

  Even at night I kept thinking about the memories with this lady. I wondered if I would ever meet her again!

  In the morning, when I went to clean my taxi I noticed the same cell phone again. I realized it was her cell phone. I smiled at this and said to myself, I will meet her again or at least have something to remember her. Then I tried to look at the phone. It went off as the battery was over.

  I went back to my house and keeping it on charger, I told my mother, “Mom, one lady forgot this cell phone in my taxi. If somebody calls on it, please convey my message.” Then I left the house.

  When I got back home in the evening, I went in the kitchen to have my food. My mother saw me and said, “Iveil, the girl who had lost her phone had called from some other number. She said that she had forgotten her phone in your taxi. She wants it back by tomorrow because her important contacts are saved in it. So you give her phone tomorrow at her residence on the address which she has given to me. She also said she will pay you extra money for delivering her cell phone.”

  Mom took the spoon and added butter in the vegetable which she was cooking. I took my keys and said to her, “I will go give the phone back to her now.”

  My mom said something but I didn’t pay attention and left. I reached the address the lady had left with mom.

  A servant opened the door and asked me whom I wanted to meet. I looked at my mom’s handwritten address but I did not have the lady’s name. I wondered what to answer the s
ervant. Luckily at that time an old gentleman came and I told him the reason for my coming there.

  He smiled at me and told me to sit comfortably on the sofa. He later went away. I sat down, looking around and marveling at the beautiful house decorated with precious antiques. They were obviously rich. Just then, she walked into the room. She looked more beautiful than before. I could not help staring at her when I saw her in a beautiful red gown.

  She came towards me and said, “Thank you very much for the phone. You look very tired. You could have come tomorrow.”

  “That’s okay, madam. I do not like to keep anybody’s belonging with me for long. So, I came here.”

  Just then, the servant came and told her something. She looked at me and started laughing. I felt the servant made fun of me.

  The pretty lady looked at me and asked, “Don’t you know my name?”

  “Oh!” now I recollected that I couldn’t answer the servant when she had asked who had I come to meet.

  I continued saying, “No madam, I never felt the need to ask until your servant asked me.” I started laughing and they too started laughing.

  The servant looked at me and said, “Madam’s name is Merlin.”

  “Beautiful name, just like her,” I murmured.

  Merlin looked at me and asked, “What did you say?”

  “Err. Nothing. I mean you have a very nice name, madam.”

  Merlin asked the maid to get her purse which she had kept on the sofa. She took the purse and handed a thousand rupee note to me.

  She said, “This is for helping me. You came up to my house to return my mobile in safe condition,” saying this she switched on her cell phone.

  I returned the money saying, “There is no need of giving me any tip. I have returned your mobile to you. If that was my good deed according to you, then sponsoring my lunch in a posh hotel was an equal deed done by you.”

  I stood up to leave. Merlin was dumbstruck. When I reached the door, I found somebody’s strong hands catching my shoulder. On turning behind I saw the same old gentleman who had welcomed me in the house.

  He looked at me and said, “Have dinner with us today. If you cannot accept the tip from Merlin, at least accept my invitation for dinner.” He was looking at me with a broad smile. I looked at Merlin but she had no expression on her face.

  I looked at the gentleman and said, “I will be glad to accept your invitation on one condition.”

  “What is the condition?” the gentleman asked patiently.

  “You and your family will come to have lunch at my house on my mother’s birthday which is next month.”

  After saying this, I was sure that they would no longer ask me to have dinner with them because no rich lady or her family would be ready to eat with a poor taxi driver in his small house.

  The gentleman looked at Merlin but her face had no expression maybe because she was confused.

  The gentleman finally lost his patience and asked, “Merlin, what is your answer?”

  Merlin looked at me and after a minute said, “Father, I think we should go. We all will celebrate his mother’s birthday together.”

  The gentleman looked at me and said, “Young man, your condition will be fulfilled by us. Now please join us for the dinner.”

  I looked at the gentleman and said, “The condition is not yet over.”

  “What else?” asked the old gentleman.

  “Sir, I don’t want anybody to bring any present or gifts. It will not be accepted.”

  “How can we come to meet your mother for the first time with empty hands? It’s a bad omen,” Merlin objected.

  “Okay then you can gift only those things which you can make with your hands not any readymade gifts.”

  “Alright,” Merlin replied trying to avoid further conversation.

  Before dinner, I called my mother to let her know that I would be reaching home late.

  We all sat at the table and mouthwatering dishes were being served. I said my short prayer like I always did even at home, before any meal. Opening my eyes, I saw Merlin and her mother having started eating their food.

  I looked at Merlin and asked, “Madam, where did your father go?”

  Her mother looked at me and said, “He will eat only after drinking. You can start eating.”

  “No Madam, I will not eat until he joins us.”

  Merlin looked at me while chewing her food and asked me, “Why?”

  “It is the custom of my house that we must patiently wait for all the members to arrive and eat together,” I said. Hearing this Merlin`s mother kept staring at me for some time.

  She looked at Merlin and said her softly, “He is just a taxi driver by profession but he has qualities of a king. We could meet such a taxi driver thanks to you, Merlin.”

  The old gentleman entered the room with glasses of beer. He came near me and said, “Young man, take this is a very expensive brand of beer, drink it as you like.”

  I handed back the glass to him and said “Thank you sir, but I cannot accept it. I don’t drink. However expensive, it is still harmful for health.”

  The gentlemen patted my back and said, “I wish I was like you in my young age. Drinking a glass every night before dinner has become an addiction now. I am really jealous how you control yourself,” saying this he sat at the table.

  Merlin’s mother asked, “What is your name?”

  “I am Iveil Fernandes,” I replied.

  “Why are you a taxi driver?” she asked.

  “My father died when I was very young. I had to run the house and look after my mother and sisters. I started with odd jobs and when I was old enough to have a license, I started driving the taxi.”

  After dinner, I thanked everybody and went to the washroom. While coming back to the living room, I heard Merlin talk to her mother, “I am very glad to have meet Iveil. He has self-respect and therefore he invited all of us for having lunch on his mother’s birthday. He did not want to bear the burden of eating dinner for free at our house. We in spite of being family members didn’t bother to wait for father’s arrival for dinner but Iveil did wait. We never pray before eating delicious food but he prayed for being blessed with his two simple meals. Such people are rare to be found nowadays.”

  A while later, I was about to leave when Merlin stopped me saying “Wait, tell me when and where to come on your mother’s birthday?”

  “Oh, thanks for reminding me. Her birthday is on 4th June. I am writing down my address and residence number. She will help you out in case you cannot find my house in the lane.” Taking a piece of paper I wrote my contact details and left.

  CHAPTER 23

  A GOOD HEART WINS ALL

  A month later, when I got back home after a hard day’s work, my mother gave me a piece of paper. In that paper, she had written Merlin’s name and phone number.

  I asked my mother about it. “She had called and told me you had invited her home for my birthday,” she said as she sat on a chair and took wool in her hand from the table.

  She continued, “Have you thought over this decision properly?”

  “Yes mother,” I replied confidently.

  “I don’t think so,” she replied, knitting the sweater.

  “Why mother?”

  “She is from a very rich family. If you call such a person home, then you cannot serve her our ordinary dishes. She will never like it. She will suffocate with our poverty.”

  “No mom, that is wrong to think. Everyone is not the same. She already knows I am a taxi driver which means she knows we are not rich like her. Despite knowing all this she has accepted my invitation to have lunch with us. It means that she is rich but is still down to earth. One more thing, nobody is born with money. Forget about money, we don’t even have clothes on us when we were born. Why must we then have false pride of our parent’s wealth?�
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  “You are right my son. Hopefully, whatever you said must apply to her,” saying this mother continued her knitting.

  I then called up Merlin.

  “Hello, may I speak to Miss Merlin?”

  “Who is this?”

  “I am Iveil, taxi driver”

  “Hold on,” the phone was kept on hold.

  “Hello, Iveil. I had called you but you were not at home.”

  “Yes, Merlin. Mom just told me.”

  “Did you make any preparations for the party? I mean did you decorate your house?”

  “No Merlin. We never do anything like that. On such occasions only our relatives are invited. We don’t have a huge party, just a small one.”

  “Though it is a small party, it will look good if we decorate the house. Even few decorations can make your house worthy of a party on such a good occasion.”

  “Yes, that is true. I will tell mom to get decorations for the house.”

  “No Iveil. I was thinking of buying it myself. I am very good at all these things. Are you free from your work this Saturday?

  “I am not free on Saturday, but I shall wind up my work early.”

  “Okay then, meet me in the evening. We will go in your cab.”

  On Saturday, I went to Merlin’s society. She was waiting for me at the gate. She looked marvelous in a pink coloured shirt tucked in black trouser. Her heels made her look taller than her normal height. She sat in the rear seat and said, “Let’s go to Crawford Market.”

  She then started playing on her cell phone. When we reached Crawford Market she asked, “Will you come with me to buy?”

  “No, I have to look after my taxi,” I took out my wallet. After counting money, I handed a hundred rupee note to her and said, “Take this and buy as much you want for decorations.”

  Then I fell it was less so I took out another hundred rupee note and gave it to her. I said, “Merlin, I cannot spend much money on decorations because I will also have to give money to mother for the food which she will cook for the party.” She looked at me and smiled.

  Merlin went to the shop and returned after an hour. She was carrying so many bags in her hand. I wondered if even two bags were of mine. I opened the door and took her bags placing them properly on the seat. She then sat on the rear seat.