Kakali's Change

While driving from Dhaka to Chittagong, we stopped in the town where Chittagong's greatest poet was born. We went to a restaurant named Kakali, which means "the chirping of the birds."

The price of the meal came to 55 rupees. I didn't have a five-rupee or a Rupee note; I had only 50-rupee notes.

I said, "I have only 50-rupee notes. Here are two 50-rupee notes."

The man saw that I gave him 100 rupees. Then he went to the cashier, only five metres away, and brought me back a five-rupee note as change.

I was so surprised and shocked. I said, "I gave you 100 rupees. You should give me 45 rupees change."

He said, "No, you gave me sixty rupees, one fifty and one ten."

Then I told him in pure Bengali that I had given him 100.

-1 March 1986