Greentext · 3 minThe Hundi

>be me, 10 years

>we have a hundi at home

>clay one, round, red colour

>bought in the exhibition for twelve rupees

>it sits on top of the fridge

>only amma can reach it

>whatever coin i get goes in it

>one rupee from tatayya

>fifty paise change from the kirana shop

>two rupees for not crying at the doctor

>every coin, i hold it up, amma puts it in

>it has been there two years

>i shake it sometimes when amma lifts it down

>heavy

>you can hear it is full

>the rule is it breaks on my birthday

>this birthday it is full, so it breaks

>i have been waiting for this day

>i have told my friends

>"my hundi is breaking, there will be two hundred at least"

>pandu says "three hundred"

>he has never seen it

>birthday comes

>morning pooja, new shirt, sweet

>then the hundi

>amma puts a newspaper on the floor

>nanna gets a small hammer from the shelf

>i want to hit it

>nanna says "you will hurt your hand"

>he hits it once

>crack

>he hits again

>it breaks into four pieces

>coins come out like rain

>on the newspaper

>i sit down and start sorting

>one rupee coins in one pile

>two rupee coins in another

>fifty paise, twenty five paise

>even some ten paise, the small ones

>some notes also, folded very small

>a five rupee note, two rupee notes

>amma is laughing at my face

>nanna is sitting on the chair, reading paper

>i count

>i count very carefully

>i make amma count also

>one hundred and sixty three rupees

>and seventy five paise

>less than i said in school

>but still, good

>then i see one more paper in the clay pieces

>folded four times

>not a note

>a piece of a notebook page

>i open it

>it has writing

>nanna's writing, i know his writing

>it says

>"took 40, will return - nanna"

>date is written below

>two years ago, nearly

>i look at nanna

>he is still reading paper

>i look at amma

>she has stopped laughing

>i hold up the paper

>"nanna, what is this"

>he looks over the paper

>he looks at the note for a long time

>then he says "oh"

>"that was for the auto that day"

>"the day we went to hospital for ammamma"

>"there was no change in the house"

>"i did not want to break it that day"

>"so i took it out from the slit with a knife"

>"and put the note"

>amma says "you never told me"

>nanna says "i forgot"

>amma says "two years you forgot"

>nanna says "i did not forget, i forgot to put it back"

>i am sitting between them on the floor

>with one hundred and sixty three rupees

>and a note for forty

>nanna gets up

>goes to the shelf where his purse is

>takes out two twenty rupee notes

>comes and puts them on my pile

>"now it is correct" he says

>and goes back to the paper

>amma is laughing again

>i did not fully understand that day

>why a grown man would write a note to a clay pot

>i understand now

>i still have the note

>it is in the box with my school certificates

>"took 40, will return - nanna"

>he returned