Two garbage bins had been placed across a street. The street houses dumped their garbage into these bins.
The road sweepers also used the same bins to dump the waste collected from the roads. Every evening, a large dumping van came by. It emptied these bins. Thus, the two bins were empty at the end of each day.
The kind of domestic waste that was put into the bins said a lot about each household. Egg peels in the bins showed households that consumed non-vegetarian foods. The two bins used to discuss the type of waste inside them.
“Yesterday, house number 3 had cooked lady’s finger,” said the first bin.
“I am sure that number 9 had cooked kebabs,” said the second The broom that was kept nearby heard the conversation. It said, “Both of you are destined to live with dirt and garbage. How are you so happy?”
The bins replied, “We have no complaints whatsoever with our job. We gather all the waste inside us. Thus, the entire colony is clean. This gives us immense happiness and satisfaction.”
The broom had nothing to say.
One day, as usual, the garbage collector dumped the waste into one of the bins. Along with the garbage, he accidentally dropped in a diamond necklace. The bin was shocked to see this.
“Such a beautiful necklace!” exclaimed the first bin. “It must be worth a few lakhs.” …
…“True,” said the other bin. “We serve people every day. Someone must have sent this as a reward. Now, you are the owner of this beautiful necklace. Congratulations!”
The first bin happily said, “Thank you. It feels good to own something as precious as this.”
Just then, the first bin heard an inner voice speak. It said, “The person who owns this necklace must be sad right now. Think about her.”
The bin felt a sense of guilt.
“If you do not wish to keep this necklace, then give it to me. I am waiting to put it on,” said the second bin.
The first bin said, “It’s not right to keep someone else’s property. Recollect the time when you had lost one of your handles. You were so tense and upset. Right now, the owner of this necklace must be going through similar pain. I am going to return this to its owner.”
“Stop talking like a fool,” said the other bin. “Hide the necklace in a corner. The van will arrive soon. It will take the necklace along with the garbage.”
The second bin tried to convince the first one to hide the necklace. The first bin did not act. It looked around as it wanted to speak to Golu, the dog. Golu couldn’t be seen anywhere. However, his wife Julie was walking on the other side of the road. The bin called out to Julie. It put the necklace around her neck.
Julie was amazed to see such a pretty necklace. She said, “Wow! It’s so cute. Thank you. Is it for me?”
The bin said, “It’s neither mine nor yours. It belongs to someone else. We have to return it to the owner. Will you help me do so?”
“Yes. I will,” said Julie.
The bin hid Julie behind it so that no one could see her wearing the necklace.
Just then the bin saw a lady. She seemed to be searching for something. She was very tense. She was weeping. The bin understood that the lady must be the owner of the necklace. She was crying because she has lost it.
The bin told Julie, “Go and return the necklace to that lady.” |
Julie walked towards the lady. She stood in front of her. When she saw her necklace, the lady stopped crying. She was happy. She picked up the necklace from Julie’s neck.
She said, “Thank you very much.”
She hugged Julie and patted her. She also gave her biscuits to eat. She said that she would feed Julie every day.
Julie turned to the bin and said, “Thank you. You deserve the credit. The work that you have done today is praiseworthy.” The bin smiled. It said, “Good work always pays. It brings immense joy and satisfaction.”
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