A cup of coffee with a boot-polish boy

The boy had an amazing charm in his face. I cannot guess the age of the boy, however looked to be just 10years old, or probably a little older. I was sitting on the streets of the Mall Road, Manali, with my family enjoying my vacation. Daddy started some friendly chit-chat with this boy, oops I even forgot his name now. His smartness, and the sweetness in his way of talking bewildered me.

I just asked my dad to get his shoes polished, as they were quite dirty. We asked the boy about the rate, and he replied  Rs 10/-. Bargaining on the rate we said that Rs5/- was more than enough. The boy said Rs5/- doesn’t get you anything nowadays, we replied back saying you can get a cup of tea or coffee for Rs5/-.

He laughed away saying, “come I will treat you with two cups of coffee, if you can prove that coffee is worth Rs5/- J”, and ofcourse there was a sweet smile on his face.

We just laughed away, but the kid just mesmerized us with his reply at the end, when we told him that you did not take us for a cup of coffee.

I had some snicker chocolates in my pocket, which I gave to the boy and couple of his friends. He took it without any greed, and even shared it with his friends. I have never seen such innocence, carefree, love, and lastly the sweetness in a street child. God bless him!! Here is the pic of the boy, the one without the cap.