There is a modi dukan outside school.
I never knew it existed until sports day class X when i went there with a bunch of similarly broke people to hog.
I finished half the stock of that place that day with everyone staring at me.And that was possible thanks to Rupsha's magic green bag which stored large sums of money in god knows how many one rupee,two rupee and 5 rupee coins.It was an occasion for jubiliation everytime 10 rupee notes came out all folded and crumbled.
Rest,we borrowed and never paid back.
I had utilised every last 50 paisa because you get chloromint chewing gum with that and modi dukaan ka person keeps chloromint in a nice small green plastic container which I can never find and then he has to point it out for me.
Now,we visit modi dukaan every single day after school for about 15 mins.Its become a tradition.And it is one place which I hope shall help me to grow fat though results unfortunately, are not yet visible.
Latest addiction at modi dukaan:Lays wafer style with pepsi...and crackle if you have the money.Even if you don't,then also you can buy because the modi dukaanwala people do not mind keeping us in debt.Earlier it used to be "orange lays."
So,after getting out of the school gate,we take a left turn towards modi dukaan and simply go pick up the green packet lying on the red rack.Then i tell the thin person standing near the pesi fridge to give one barra pepsi.I have specifications about the bottle also.I do not like those bottles where the pepsi label is not coloured and is just something jutting out in glass.It looks as if those are contaminated.
He knows that.So he doesn't give us those type of bottles these days.He takes out the last bottle in a row,the one closest to where the cold cold air comes out beacuse we are his special customers.
He also keeps the three or four crackles right in front, on top of all the other chocolates so that i can take it out easily.One day Jahnavi just walked off with a crackle without telling me.So i also did not pay him.
Next day he told me very sweetly.
Crackle also has its own story.If its just three people and one of them is Rajasee,then we have perfect division of crackle because she does not want more than two.
So the bar gets equally broken into two parts of four each and the remaining two which she gets.
Money is not a problem these days.Because i'm mask treasurer.
I keep the money back.Don't worry.I'm a nice girl.
Then there is a light blue coloured board right next to modi dukaan saying in white that the estate,"bibi jaan bibi" belongs to some person whose name i cant remember because the centre of attraction was the name of the estate which continues to fascinate us and thus,we have sung songs which go"bibi jaan bibi.bibi jaan bibi" outside modi dukaan.
The person sitting inside the modi dukaan thinks we are all very nice people but he finds us crazy.I know it.
Because I remember how he was looking at me when i borrowed two rupees from some girl on sports day,went up to him and asked"do rupaiy mein kya milta hain?".
I had been hogging then for almost half an hour.
He gave me a fatafat.
Sometimes Varun and Gaurav come outside modi dukaan.They used to steal food earlier but now they bring money and buy the BIG lays wafer style so its ok.
One day it was just me and jahnavi.We were standing outside modi dukaan and this hag sort of a woman came and said that she works for some animal welfare society which needed funding so if we could give her some money.
So i gave her 10 bucks.It was the cheapest thing in my hand.You see, we were rich that day.She talked very nicely,said nice nice things about us and went off.
The modi dukaan people told us that she was just bluffing.I said i know but what to do.She looked like someone who had a dagger or something.They laughed.We also laughed.They thought we were dumb.
Modi dukaan has become an integral part of our school life.
I'll miss modi dukaan days after class 12.The modi dukaan people will miss us as well.
We have provided them with never failing means of entertainment and an assured shoot up in their finances.But there are still two more years to go.
And that's quite a lot though the perosn most addicted to lays wafer style, only has monday left.
How sad is that.
I don't even remember who first came up with the name,modi dukaan.But now that little shop with two big fridges and red racks is modi dukaan for us.
"Amen" to that.
