Murakh-ji meets a bicycle businessman

  Yesterday I caught a tempo to the city. A young chap in a new suit 
and gold chain got in with me; he had three bicycles that he stacked 
on the back of the tempo and tied down with a black rubber tube. One of
the bicycles was impressively locked -- chain on each wheel, with two 
locks. Looking closely, I realized the other two were also chain-locked.

  "Hello," I said, "You are in the bicycle business?"
  "But of course!" he said. "Not only bicycles, we also trade in scooters
and occasionally in cars as well."
  A security man got into the tempo. They knew each other. By way of
explanation, he told me: "He is a very hoshiyAr type of chap - have you seen
how all his cycles are locked even now?"
  The man took this compliment with a wan smile.

  "Business going well?" I asked, looking at his new suit, though
it looked a couple of sizes too big for him.
  "Bahut-hi AchhA chal rahA hai," he said, looking at his suit himself. 
  "How much is your turnover?" I asked.
  By now the tempo was moving and I was not sure he had heard me. So I 
repeated my question loudly.
  He thought about it a bit, and said: "These days things are going very
smoothly. Ter-un-over bilkul zero-hi samajhiye."
  "Zero turnover?" I said.
  "Yes, zero," he said. "Well... one of our chaps, Dilloo, did get beaten
up last month, but that doesn't count." 
  "Beaten up?" I said, quite lost. 
  "Actually, some woman saw him in operation, and then these IIT-wallah's
did a ter-un-over to the Kalyanpur 's and of course we know
them quite well, but they had to thrash him for appearance's sake.  He
was there only one night. Terun-over is pretty much zero, actually."

  I was pondering on all this thrashing in the middle of the turnover.
Finally something dawned. "Aap log kusti laDte hain kya"  I asked
eventually - maybe he was talking about some kusti bout. 
  "Where is the time these days," he lamented. "Business is so good that
we are busy morning till night. But then Ustad-ji had said . . . " At this
point he broke down. His eyes moistened.

  The tempo was heading for Gol Chauraha. I looked away politely. 
  After some time he only said,  "The brother-in-laws finished off 
Ustad-ji during the emergency. Kya haat tha ustad-ji ka! He was in
business even during the Air Commodore's time!"
  "Was business bad then?" I asked.
  "Terrible!!" He said. "Ter-un-over was very high then.
These days, it's a breeze. When there are labs on, or when the Faculty 
Forum has its meetings. . . " and his eyes glittered, "Its like an ocean 
under the stairs. Pick and choose, pick and choose. Sometimes
we even go into other lines of business," he said, leaning conspiratorially
towards me, and tugged his suit lapel to show me.

  At this, he and the security fellow had a big laugh. I couldn't quite catch
the joke. Half the words were getting eaten up in the wind, maybe.
  Fortunately, Bara Chauraha had arrived by now. I got off to go to
Midland Cycles --  I needed to replace my stolen bicycle.