Man of word (standard:humor, 1453 words)
Author: Lincoln	Added: Apr 27 2003	Views/Reads: 3322/2119	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
He was vexed. Clearly cannot accept that anybody underestimated his words of refund.

Finally Reza bhai had decided to go to the village. He had taken the
decision. He told us that in village, money was flying in the air. He 
wanted to explore business opportunities there. He told us that 
agro-business opportunities were abundant in the village. We got a bit 
confused. I thought money flies only in the air of Dhaka city. He 
laughed at my ignorance. Competition for money was very hard in the 
cities. Money cannot fly in the polluted air. All the money went to the 
village. He clarified. Though we felt sorry for missing him but the 
simple thought that he would become rich helped us forget our sorrows. 

A week after his departure we were playing cricket in the field.
Suddenly a microbus arrived at the gate of Reza bhai's house. We became 
curious and rushed to the spot. Alas! What had happened! It was Reza 
bhai! He was back so quickly. Moreover, he was sick. He was helped by 
his cousin to walk up the stairs. He was feeling pain in every step. He 
was groaning and making different shorts of funny sounds. All of us 
wanted to know the story. His cousin assured us that it was nothing 
serious, just a minor accident. 

Since I was very curious, I spared no time in paying a visit to Reza
bhai just after the sun set. He opened the door. He gave me a smile and 
went back to the bed limping. I took a chair and sat very close to the 
bed. Asked him what happen? 

He started telling me the story. Reza bhai began... 

‘I went to the village hoping to make some profit in stock business. I
had a simple plan. I wanted to purchase some cash crop and put them in 
a cold storage to make some profit by selling them with some premium 
after some time. But the practical situation was not so simple. I could 
realize by judging the situation that margin for such business was very 
low and the risk was too high. So, I was looking for other 
alternatives. I got many ideas. I thought, investment in cattle or goat 
would give me high profit in a short period of time. I had decided to 
invest my little money in purchasing 3 or 4 cows to sell them just 
before Eid and make handsome money. 

So, I went to the Kadambari Hat, the largest nearby market to purchase
some cows. There were many cows in the market. There were buffalos, 
goats, and rams. But overall, there were horses!! Yes, horses were 
available in the market. People of that region use horses to draw carts 
and carry loads. My heart started pumping harder looking at one of the 
large and red horses. The beautiful red horse was attracting me like a 
magnet. You might not know that I love horses. I always wanted to ride 
on a horse, just like those heroes in western movies! 

I went to the horse trader and asked about the price of the large,
beautiful and red horse. I was careful not to show much of my interest. 
I tried hard to sound casual, as if just enquiring about the horse and 
did not have any real intention. But failed. The eyes of the horse 
trader started shining just looking at me. He gave me a friendly smile. 
He told me that he was well aware of the desires of the city dwellers 
like me, about horses. I was surprised and tried to pretend that I 
really did not have strong desires for horses. 

But I could not fool him. He asked taka 12,000 for the large red horse.
We bargained for about an hour but the price never changed. I was a 
very poor bargainer. I told him very clearly that I had had with me 
only taka 8,000. It was only my dream to learn horse riding. That was 
the only reason I wanted to buy the horse. I could not spend more than 
that amount. 

I was about to give up any hopes and decided to live the market. At that
time the horse trader gave me a strange proposal. He told me that he 
was ready to lend me the horse in taka 8,000 only in one condition. I 
had to return back the horse after one month in healthy condition. He 
even told me that if I could learn horse riding within a month, he was 
even ready to take back the horse and return me back taka 5,000. I 
thought it was a rational proposal. I was eager to become the owner of 
that horse and learn horse riding. So, I did not waste any time in 
giving my consent. I took the horse. The horse trader said, ‘I am a man 
of word, just send a messenger to my house, I shall personally go to 
your house and take back the horse and return back the money. I am a 
man of word'. 



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