Benjamin, the Flower Vendor

                                                  It was Christmas time and  people were already preparing for a great Christmas. Benjamin nearing 70 years was blind from an attack of an unknown disease when he was in his teens.

He was residing in a small single room dilapidated apartment in  the outskirts of Goa. He was a flower vendor.
Goans are joyful and they love to decorate their homes with a variety of flowers almost every day as many Hindus do decorate their deities with fragrant flowers.

Christmas was fast approaching.  Benjamin got up early, finished his morning chores  and had his breakfast served by his neighbour who helps him as he was blind. She packed his lunch and some food for his pet dog Peter,  who always stayed with him. In fact his Peter, the pet dog was his walking stick and his only life partner.  Thanking his neighbour,  Benjamin started off and  moved to the street nearby carrying with him  his mobile shop, a rickety foldable table.  That day too, he set up his table at the same place where he used to get his regular supply of flowers to sell from a wholesale vendor.  

He placed the table  and covered it with a sheet of cloth.

The wholesale flower vendor delivered him two baskets of flowers with neatly cut stems and nicely done up for selling by Benjamin. The merchant used to sell a bunch of flowers at Rs.5 to Benjamin and wanted them to be sold at Rs.10 a bunch.

Benjamin was surprised to receive two baskets of flower bunches and doubted himself if he could sell all the flowers. Earlier, on a few occasions he could not sell all the flowers of even  one basketful of flowers.  But the merchant assured him that since Christmas celebrations would be in a few days, he was confident that Benjamin would be able to sell both the baskets of flowers that day.

Benjamin has also regular customers who buy flowers from him.  Some of the collections of flowers received that day included Scented Prime Rose, Tuberose, Gardenia and Lily of the Valley.

The sale was unusually brisk and by mid day most of the flower bunches were sold. He fed his pet dog Peter and he too had his brunch. By the evening all the flower bunches were sold and he got his share of Rs.75 from the merchant. With humility he thanked the merchant for his trust in him.

Benjamin  started going back home. On the way, he  met an old lady waiting for alms shivering in cold. He gave her his shawl though not clean and shared his food left with him. He also gave her      Rs. 50 for her to expend and moved on. Tears of joy rolled down his eyes for having helped a more deserving old woman and thanked the Jesus Christ for giving the opportunity to help  someone poorer than him. He prayed to the Lord to give him stronger shoulders to carry greater responsibilities and walked back home silently guided by his loving Peter, the Pet dog.

Benjamin is a rich man, yes, a truly rich man having larger  heart than most of us, in sharing  with the needy more than he could afford otherwise.

Komacha/Santhanam

25 Dec 2018