(True incident that happened a couple of weeks ago. )

MG Road morphs into a walking Plaza every Saturday so I was walking too that day.

I did wave him off, rather the way one waves away a particularly irritating insect. But he persisted in following me. He switched to English all of a sudden and caught me in mid stride. That’s when I took a look at his face. I know I shouldn’t have. But I did. He looked around nine or ten. Fairly clean for a child of the streets. Large eyes, hiding so much, revealing so little. Hair cropped short. Clothes clean though worn.

"I will polish your shoes really well. Just 5 rupees madam. "

That’s when I realized I wasn’t even wearing shoes.

“They’re just sandals” I informed him triumphantly, “made of cloth, don’t need polishing.”

“I’ll brush them”, he persisted.

Now had I a grain of sense I’d have acted in character and pushed off but I don’t know why I agreed. From a plastic bag, he took out a brush that looked like something really cruel had been done to it.

“Where do you stay madam? ”, asked the little guy. He now had me a captive audience since I couldn’t move when one sandal was in his hand.

“I stay in XXX  area”  I said, trying to kill the conversation before it started.

“I stay in Hadapsar”, he offered.

But he intrigued me and I got into the questioning line as well

“Where are your parents?”

“My father is dead, Mum’s at home. I’m from Rajasthan, Got a younger brother and sister.” ( How come they always have a younger brother AND sister)

“How do you know English so well?”

“I go to school”, he informed me, a trace of pride in his voice or so I thought.

Our conversation languished.

“You know madam…People tell me I could do better business if I had a box”, he informed me in a confidential tone.

Aha, that’s what I’d been expecting from the beginning…Here comes the request for cash.

“What box? ”, I almost barked at him.

“You know, for the customers to keep their foot on. And my brushes inside it. ”

“How much does it cost”, I asked him warily.

“Only 180 rupees ”, was the answer

“And where will you buy it?”

“You don’t give me money Madam. You come with me and buy it for me. “

“Where do you get this “box””

“There, just straight ahead ”, he pointed in the direction of Arora Towers and the swanky shops on the ground floor.

“Do they sell such boxes?” I was surprised now. Curiouser and curiouser as Alice would have said.

“Yes, there is one place there.”

I could see a shoe shop in the distance

Ok, now this looked reasonable to me. A shopkeeper in a swanky shop was unlikely to trick me using an urchin such as this one, I thought.

So we made our way, Arora towerwards.

We reached the shop but my guide kept walking…

“Isn’t this the shop?” I ventured

“No a little further. “

He took care not to point but just nodded in the general direction of straight ahead.

Suddenly in the middle of nowhere he stopped.

“Here it is”, he told me

Sitting on the pavement in front of Arora Towers was the Artful Dodger .

“Thank you Uncle” fervently uttered the small apparition to the man.

The man patted the boys head.

“It’s OK. What’s your name?” he asked the boy

“Rahul” he called over his shoulder. Seeing us, he seemed to be keen to get off now as fast as possible

Well my chap was not as smart as I had thought him. I wonder what the artful Dodger would do to him later. The man and I looked at each other.

He rubbed his neck embarrassedly. He then proceeded to make what was undoubtedly the understatement of the year. “ I’m beginning to have serious doubts about this” he said.

“No they’re over ”, returned the Artful Dodger. From his expression I knew he would have liked to box my little pal’s ears.

The other man and I looked sheepishly at each other. He’d been conned so I’d been saved.

“How much did you pay?” I asked him

“90 rupees.You know, I work with an NGO for street children and these guys really get to me every time ”, He returned.