The Fee

The wind did not blow and the sheet of water that was the mighty Brahmaputra was lying as flat as glass. The azure heavens seemed to have been scorched by the brilliant noonday sun and the dry brown earth of the embankments near the riverside restaurant seemed to crumble before eyes of the single customer sheltering from the heat. The nearby CJM and DC courthouses seem deserted and empty.

The black coat, none too clean, denoted the profession of the man nursing his tea but his ancient bespectacled eyes were far on the distance, measuring the hours perhaps till he could nurse his evening drink.

A harried young man walked in to the restaurant, asked for tea and sat down heavily in one of the rickety plastic chairs. Ancient Eyes on the distance snapped to attention though the body remained still, and the thoughts ran behind the grimy glasses covering were quicksilver.

“In trouble?” ancient eyes still on the distance, asking the glass of cold tea.

The young man started, moved and saw the coat, the man inside looking at the distance, but he saw the coat.

“Yeah, yes, I am” slowly, dragged out.

“Girl trouble” questioning yet sure.

A pause, a slow blush suffusing the handsome though heavy features.

“Yes, I need some help” stated defiantly.

“ No doubt, no doubt” the eyes moved from the cold tea to the young man, measuring, weighing, and calculating.

The young man squirms in his chair, finally gets up and draws his chair closer to the lawyer.

“Yeah, I could use some help. You see, me and my girlfriend live in Bangalore though we belong to different castes and we want to get married. Fact is, our parents arrived in Bangalore to stop the marriage, so we came back to Guwahati and now we need to get married at once. Can you help us?”

The rush of words apparently left the young man winded and he sat hunched over in his chair looking like a child in his bright coloured designer wears.

Ancient eyes regarded him for a while, till the young man flushed again and said” I have enough money, don’t worry, and we are both adults. Just need the thing done today”
“Come with me”

The lawyer and his new client paid their bills, walked off the restaurant and into the nearby District Commissioner’s Court. The floors were dirty and the paint flaking on the walls. Both walked slowly till they reached the registration branch.

Stopping outside the office, the lawyer said “Wait here, I’ll be back”

Ten long minutes later, the lawyer emerges beckons the young man into a nearby alcove

“Twenty-Five thousand and get the girl here fast”

Fifteen breathless minutes, both bride and groom are outside the office and twenty-five new thousand rupee notes are in the lawyer’s hand as he produces some forms and official notices. Things are moving along and signatures are being signed, when the earnest groom suddenly remembers his two friends who are to be witnesses and rushes off to get them leaving the lawyer and his bride standing outside the office

“Is this legal?” asks the new bride

“Very” gravely informs ancient eyes

“I mean, no way it can be cancelled or withdrawn?”

A long pause and a longer look passes.

“Anything is possible”

“Hmmmm, yes, I would like the possibility. At the going rate of course”

A pause, shorter than before, a nod, shorter than the pause.

The young man arrives with his friends and they all engage in a flurry of signing and smiles. The lawyer and the new wife are also smiling.

Out in the open, the young man turns gratefully to the lawyer

“I can’t tell you how much you have helped me out. So if everything is done, and the certificates will reach us at the given address, we’ll take your leave.”

Ancient eyes watch the young man thoughtfully from the black coat, the throat is cleared, a pause. The afternoon seemed to be full of pauses.

“Umm, there was something….”

The young man blushes again, grins and says “I am so sorry, your fee, of course, of course. I don’t quite know how much I should pay, but I hope this will suffice”. He stuffs a roll of hundred rupee notes into the hands of the lawyer and takes off with his wife.

A few minutes later, the lawyer is still standing outside the office when the wife comes back and thrusts a smaller wad of 500 rupee notes into his hand, smiles at him and asked for his cell phone number. The lawyer smiles and gives her a fictional number and pockets the money. He walks back to the restaurant and orders another glass of tea. Takes out his cell phone and makes a call.

“Yes sir, I came to the court to complete my forms for my bar licence, but it seems that it was a bandh today, so I will have to come tomorrow. I however met the peons at the registration office and got the forms. Yes sir, they were very helpful, they seem to know where all the forms are and what needs to be filled out. I also found out about the fees. Yes sir, thank you sir. I will get back to you later sir.”

Old eyes, in an old coat, in an old profession, grimly look out at the horizon. A while later, touching his shirt pocket where repose a few wads of money, there is a faint smile in the young face with the old, ancient eyes.

The afternoon is still scorching hot and the river still looks like green-blue glass.