A Man of Integrity!

I met him on Broadway and I remember it was raining at that time. I was walking to the Port Authority bus station and, like any New Yorker, was busy with myself
trying to reach on time to catch the bus. Broadway, by the way, recently has been partially closed for traffic to make way for pavements with chairs, plants, bicycle lanes etc. So it was easy to avoid the sidewalks and walk straight through the middle of the road. Suddenly, I was stopped by this gentleman with an Asian face and I had to slow down to listen.

He asked. "Aap ko Urdu jhantha hai?" (Do you know Urdu?)
I replied. "Ha..I can understand it."

I had already stopped. This was a brother (bhai!), after all.

He started his story saying that he was on a short visit to New York from Boston and his valet was lost. Now he had no money to go back and whether I would be able to help him financially to get back. I was not sure. There were a lot of questions that if answered correctly would be enough to convince me that this was a false story. Still I felt guilty as if for some reason he was right, I will be committing a mistake by not helping him. I said "Sorry" and left him there. I noted that he was not desperate. During my trip back home I had a debate with myself on the incident.

Few weeks later, I was again on Broadway, walking towards the bus station. This time, winter was early and I had a cap and a muffler around my neck. I was wearing a fleece. On the corner of a street, somebody touched me on my shoulder. It was him again and it was a pleasant surprise for me. Before I could respond, he started again.

"Aap ko Urdu jhantha hai?" "Mem Boston se aaya hai"....

With a sense of deja vu, I interrupted. "Bhai. At least try to change your story this time!".