Bhatnagar Ji, rubbing his face, walked over to his son and lovingly watched what he was doing on the laptop.
As soon as his father arrived, the son quickly turned off the laptop and cheerfully said, "Dad, I have to work late into the night. I also get hungry, so I'm ordering a pizza for myself. Do you want some?"
At that moment, Bhatnagar Ji saw his son like an angel. His eyes welled up with tears. In his mind, he thought, 'Goodness and asking?' But outwardly, he said to his son, "I'll keep you company, go ahead and order!"
While his son was getting two plates of pizza slices and taking out the sauce from the fridge, Bhatnagar Ji hurriedly brought four more puris to his plate.
"You eat with sauce? I prefer it with yogurt and pickle," he said as he filled his plate from all sides and dug into his food.
Hearing the noise, his wife got out of bed and smiled at this father-son midnight feast.
After filling his stomach, Bhatnagar Ji stretched out in his bedroom and fell into a deep sleep. Soon enough, his snores echoed, celebrating his victory.
Once he drifted into a deep sleep, Bhatnagar Ji began to dream.
In the dream, he saw his son insisting on playing cards with him. He was trying to avoid it, hesitating, but his wife said, "Since he's asking, why don't you play just to keep him happy?"
Their neighbors, the Saxena couple, also arrived, and everyone started playing cards together.
Saxena Ji mentioned that during the Diwali holidays, when their children come home, they all play cards for money.
"Ugh... gambling? But that's a bad thing," Bhatnagar Ji said.
"Oh, brother, the kids don't come every day. If it's once a year, we should play. They say gambling is like Goddess Lakshmi's swing," Mrs. Saxena said.
"A swing? What do you mean?" the son asked.
"Swing, as in a cradle. On Diwali, Goddess Lakshmi sits on it and blesses every home," Saxena Aunty explained.
"Oh, I see! Okay, let's play," Bhatnagar Ji agreed, and the game began.
But Bhatnagar Ji kept losing continuously.
In the early morning, when his wife came with a cup of tea to wake him up, Bhatnagar Ji was still mumbling, brushing mosquitoes away from his face, "Show... Blind!"
When she pulled the blanket off his face, he woke up.
He asked his wife if their son was awake, and she told him that he had just fallen asleep at dawn and would sleep for a long time.
Bhatnagar Ji had to go to the office, so he quickly drank his tea and got ready.
There wasn't much work in the office that day. After lunch, while sitting at his desk, his colleague Vilas Ji came over and said, "Come on, I'll buy you a coffee."
Bhatnagar Ji immediately got up.
Actually, Vilas Ji wanted to buy a gift for his daughter from the gift emporium near the coffee shop because she had scored the highest marks in her class in the last test.
While browsing gifts with Vilas Ji, Bhatnagar Ji's eyes fell on a beautiful diary with a golden pen. Bhatnagar Ji thought, Why not buy it for my son? He'll be happy. He got it packed.
He took out his card to make the payment, but after two minutes, the shopkeeper said, "There's no balance, sir."
"What? How is that possible? There should be more than twenty-five thousand rupees in it," Bhatnagar Ji said, so the cashier checked again. But his account was completely empty.
Vilas Ji ended up paying for him. After coffee, they returned, and now Bhatnagar Ji owed Vilas Ji 350 rupees.
When he reached home in the evening, he asked his wife, "How much money is left in my account?"
His wife replied, "How should I know? You gamble, and I'm supposed to keep track?"
Saying this, she went to make tea. Hearing this, Bhatnagar Ji's head spun. He thought, Unbelievable... I only gambled in my dream, but the balance is gone in real life? Shocked, he alternated between looking at his wife and his son, who was happily opening his gift packet.
(Continued)
