The past few days he had been visiting the chaiwala without a rupee in his pocket. The first time, he got the chai with an excuse of having forgotten the purse. The 2nd day that he went, he emptied all that was in his purse and looked lamely at the chaiwala hinting that he was broke. The 3rd day that he went there, he got out when the chaiwala was looking the other side.

 

As Shanmugam looked at the shop from a distance on the 4th day, he was wondering what he can do this time. If he could manage this one last time, he will be fine, since he was going out of town for good the next day. He also didn't carry any purse this time.

 

As he sat there, the chaiwala asked him, "Hey. . .did you atleast get the money for today?"

 

Shanmugam looked at him and nodded. As he sipped the Assam tea, he looked at the chaiwala on the way to get out of the predicament. But he told himself, "let me enjoy the chai first."

 

When he finished it, the chaiwala said, "Your balance is Rs.18."

 

Shanmugam nodded again and not getting any idea of how to make good the escape, he ordered one more chai. The chaiwala didn't ofcourse suspect anything and this was good business for him, anyway.

 

As Shanmugam sipped further and slowly, he looked at the chaiwala. The chaiwala looked at him back.

 

Shanmugam kept staring at him.

 

"What are you looking at?"

 

"I'm looking at the face of a sprinter whose time never came."

 

"What?", the chaiwala asked.

 

"Yes, you have an athletic body and your face shows a sunken star."

 

The chaiwala liked what he heard.

 

"Yes, I was running well in school."

 

"Can you run as fast as me?", asked Shanmugam.

 

"I can run real fast. Show me how fast you can run."

 

And Shanmugam sprinted out.