The Chai Seller's Extra Cup

Outside the bus stand Bhola Kaka sold tea from a blue cart. Every morning he lined up his glasses, and every morning he poured one extra cup and set it aside on the corner of the cart.

"Who is that for?" asked Raju, who swept the stand before school.

"For whoever needs it," said Kaka.

Raju watched. Some days a tired porter took it. Some days a woman who had missed her bus. Once it was a traveller who had lost his wallet. Kaka never asked for money for that cup, and he never asked questions.

"But Kaka, you lose five rupees every day," said Raju.

Kaka stirred the pot. "Come back in a year and tell me what I lost."

One morning in the rains, Kaka did not come. He had a fever. For three days the blue cart stood under a plastic sheet.

On the fourth day Raju came early, to check. Someone had dried the cart and swept under it. The porter was lighting the stove. The woman who had once missed her bus had brought milk. The traveller, who passed through every month, had left an envelope: "For Kaka's medicine."

Raju ran to Kaka's room with the news. Kaka listened, propped on his pillow, and his eyes shone.

"So," he said. "What did I lose?"

When Kaka came back the next week, there were two extra cups on the corner of the cart. The second one was Raju's idea. He paid for it himself, from his sweeping money, and he never asked who drank it.