Very often we hear about people pouring money down the drain. I am sure you would have heard about that famous politician who literally did so for her foster son’s wedding. Or that diamond merchant who chartered an aircraft and solemnized the ceremony midair. What about that steel tycoon who bought a “French castle” as gift for his wife. The list is endless. There is a hotel with a golden loo. Then people have garments (even under garments) studded with jewels.

All this fills me with distaste. What a waste of resources. Just because one has been blessed with a silver spoon, or may be several spoons, doesn’t mean it can be used to scoop garbage. These people are criminals and I am sure they will pay for it, one day or the other. This went on till that day....

On that day I had been shopping for little odds and ends at the nearby bazaar and happened to enter my favorite CD store. “Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix”, had been released on DVD! I grabbed a copy and ran home, only to find the disk getting stuck exactly at the famous first kiss scene. Shop insisted that all their products are genuine (thereby defect free) and for testing they sent me to the neighboring electronics store along with the sales man. 

The electronics store had a cute young girl at the cash counter. She greeted the sales man and soon both of them pulled out a DVD player and started testing the disk. 

They were quite friendly with each other and began chatting, oblivious to my presence. I pretended to be invisible and was enjoying their conversation.  Suddenly she took the DVD cover and asked, “What is the cost of this disk”. Seven hundred rupees answered the young man. My god! SEVEN HUNDRED RUPEES, she exclaimed and that too for a Harry Potter movie??? Every now and then it is shown on TV. By the way, who is the rich guy.... Before much damage could be done, she was silenced by a sharp jab of his elbow and he pointed me with his eyes. Her face turned crimson but I pretended to be busy watching the screen.

Seven hundred rupees meant quite a sum to her,  maybe a good part of her weekly earning. I got  enveloped in guilt and a rude awakening dawned on me. I found myself being placed in the same category of that politician, diamond merchant and steel magnate.