The Writer's Blog

The Tea Seller's Son by K Hari Kumar (An Excerpt from WHEN STRANGERS MEET.. ) On a very hazily lit noon, when one could see enough to distinguish darkness from light, the little boy turned his head first to his left and then to the other side. Then he checked straight, as if in a single stride he would measure the entire length that he was meaning to cross to get to the other side of the road. His destination was a dusty container office across the road that took care of the construction site booming in that part of the village. His father had told him ‘Arshad, when you grow up this place will make you rich and we will open a bigger tea stall outside the mall so that more people can drink our tea.’ ‘What is a mall, Abbu?’ he had asked innocently. ‘It is a big shop that has everything in the world. You will like it.’ His father had told him. ‘Why can’t we open a shop inside the mall?’ ‘We will do that too, we will do that. But you must serve very good tea to thos