The Palm Business

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I was in class four. I still remember the Palm Tree we had in the backyards. The Palms were very tasty & I was the only person who could climb the tree and get those palms for my younger siblings. I used to enjoy the respect & love that the two kids used to shower on me for the sake of palm.

Other than climbing trees & playing outdoors, I didn't have much to do those days. My ten year old mind was very business oriented. Every now and then I used to implement new ideas and make money. I had earned 1 Rupee by organizing the ' housie' event with my folks and siblings. However, I was unlucky to have lost 75 Paise. I have had only one Red Baraf (sugary ice cube) for 25 p and I lost the remaining money. It was that hole in my pant pocket which I kept forgetting and so I had lost many coins in school for this pocket hole. The feeling when you go to buy Baraf and you have found that you lost all your money is inexpressible. To  recover from that loss I had to think of a new idea. My siblings were not very happy with the 'housie' event; my profit was quite visible to them as there were only 5 members to play the game. They could make out my profit and demanded me 50 p. When I refused to pay, they said they will never play Housie again. I had to think of a better idea and suddenly a great idea popped in my mind.

The idea was to en-cash my climbing skill. To give some extra service, I was planning to make palm juice and sell it to the younger duo. So, I immediately started working on it. I gathered as many palms as I could and with lots of trouble I extracted the juice manually from the palms. Then to increase the taste I added right amount of sugar & salt. However, I could only get about 40 ml of juice which was very less for my ever thirsty clients. Moreover, the taste was really awesome and I too wanted some for myself. But it's serious business, so I had to give a little sacrifice on my part. I took out two 20 ml homeopathic medicine bottles and washed it and filled it with the juice and tagged the price slip as 50p each. Selling is again an art of knowing your customers well. For me it was easy, as I knew them very well. Immediately, they fell for my latest product. They wanted this new launch badly. The only problem was that they didn't have a single penny. Finally, they went to our Mum and asked for the money. For some reason She gave them the money without causing any trouble. Perhaps, she also wanted some juice though she never asked. But I was out of stock for myself aswell and I felt guilty. The duo came and gave me the money; in exchange I gave them the juice. They were enjoying the lovely taste in small sips. My eyes were filled with joy though I was missing the taste. Perhaps, If I had asked my folks they would have given me that 1 Re. But joy of earning is different. And when you earn by doing little work and with little sacrifice, it's heavenly.

I miss those palm tree days and all the beautiful moments I spent under that tree during my childhood.