That Horrible Man
Raksha was a pretty seven-year-old. Like all children her age, she loved the sticky sweet and sour candies that the old man got every evening in his push cart. Raksha lived in a small gated community of about a dozen families. Children spent their evenings in many outdoor games most of which left them tired, dirty and very happy. Those were not the unsafe times like nowadays and parents generally left their children on their own. The old man with the push cart would shout to the children living on both sides of the road to come out for the coloured, sweet and sour candies. He always wore shabby vest and even shabbier pyjamas. He had the ugliest nails - dirty and uneven. His teeth were badly stained and like his nails, uneven. He was bald with tufts of unkempt filthy hair above his ears. On hearing his voice, children with rush out with whatever few coins they had. Considering that his entire clientele were these little children, he was extremely rude to them. But his tone...