Mr. Verma was sitting in his balcony armchair waiting for his son to come back home. A joyous optimistic feeling was filled in his heart. He had just returned from the mithai shop, a couple of blocks away from his place. Meanwhile Mrs. Verma was busy making some samosas for her son. The long grin on her face had vanished away for a long time. Finally the day had arrived where the entire family could sit together at the dinner table and talk about Rajeev's first day at office.
"Are you done yet? My son will be arriving soon!!"
"Yes yes, just a little bit left. By the way, he is also my son"
"Oh stop with your drama and complete making those samosas, he will be here any minute"
"You just stay over there and keep shut, I will complete my work before he gets back home"
Mr. Verma looked over the balcony pillar to see if a man in white shirt, black trousers and grey tie was anywhere within his eyesight. It was half past seven and Rajeev could be back home any minute.
Rajeev got a job in the bank after overcoming several competitive exams. His parents were so proud of him. They could finally reveal to the world that their son has got a government job. Mr. Verma had already informed Rajeev's masi and her husband about his job. They were the one who eagerly "motivated" him in getting a safe and secured job instead of "playing around with a football". A deep proud voice was heard several times that day as Mr Verma kept calling all his relatives and informed them about the good news.
Mrs. Verma placed a huge plate of samosas on the dinner table. Suddenly the door bell rang. Mrs. Verma almost ran towards the main door and peeped through the "magic eye".
"Oh! It's just my sister and her husband", whispered Mrs. Verma to an excited Mr. Verma who was about to trip over the balcony mattress.
After a short session of fake congratulations and appreciation with Rajeev's parents both Mr. and Mrs. Burman started sharing some foreign stories about their daughter who has been studying microbiology in the US.
"Hey Geeta! Did you transfer 50,000 rupees to my account today?" inquired Mr. Verma
"No! I did not go out of the house today and why would I transfer money to my husband's account"
"I just received a sms which says that someone has deposited 50,000 to my bank account"
"Oh don't worry! Go over to the bank tomorrow morning and update the pass book"
Mrs. Verma continued chatting with her sister and her husband while Mr. Verma moved over to the balcony corner and eagerly layed his eyes in search for his homecoming son.
Suddenly the bedroom cordless rang up. Mrs. Verma stopped her husband and moved onto receive the call.
"Hello, am I speaking to Mrs. Geeta Verma, mother of Rajeev Verma?"
"Yes, speaking!! Can you say anything about my son's whereabouts? He was supposed to reach home by 7:15 but it's already 8 o'clock"
"Mrs. Verma, we have a very tragic news for you. Can you please come over to the bank and have a look at it?"
The bedroom light suddenly seemed to fade away into a world that Rajeev has always described to his mother. Even before leaving for his first day at office, he kissed his Liverpool scarf. Mrs. Verma still remembers the few words her son said before leaving, "Ma, the 50,000 I earned while working for my club wasn't enough for me to visit the place I always wanted to..."
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