in the voids above my head,
a few distant planets colluded,
and decided that this was the day
i would be in the same
20 sq feet space,
as a man who was worth
thousands of millions of dollars.
i wasn’t there to discuss anything
in particular, just that both of us
were getting into the same plane
going somewhere obscure.
his personal plane was probably
too big for that little town.
i sniggered under my breath.
his name was and is on every cover
you could think of –
from Forbes to Fortune.
just that he was passionately indian
and proudly brown as i was.
i was atleast breathing the same air
as the billionaire.
somewhere my ego pacified me.
air is a great leveller,
and my mind smiled inside.
then as my eyes swept over him,
they sort of stumbled over
some invisible price tags
sticking out of him.
the suit possibly was close
to a 100 grand.
his obviously hand-made shirt
and tie were another 20 grand.
his italian thoroughbred shoes
would have definitely been
a few thousands over ten.
his one of a kind watch
was a cool million at least.
his spectacles had two large
rocks that shone from the sides.
his pen was hand crafted
and worth its weight in gold.
his vertu mobile phone
had more discreet diamonds
inside than outside.
his diamond monogrammed
personalized kevlar infused briefcase
cost a bomb and a half.
his big diamond cufflinks,
jewel clustered tie pin,
and diamond encrusted rings
couldn’t have been less
than a million each.
his thick platinum double bracelet
was certainly a couple of millions.
and i suppose the miscellaneous
sparkling knick-knacks around him
would have been another million or two.
all together he was a walking fort knox.
and i am not exaggerating.
i know my math.
it’s a genetic indian flaw.
my eyes came back from their shopping.
they possibly drooled.
nope, they surely spritzed.
and then the penny dropped.
clink.
pling.
tinkle.
a quick moment of calculation
and i figured out that this one man
was wearing, yes wearing enough money
to feed this 17 million people city
for a year. or maybe two.
and that probably was loose change
in his forgotten old jeans.
