The Soda Pusher and the street dancer. based on Dr Lalitendu Jena's Odia story, a quarter century back.

(Originally Dr Lalitendu Jena narrated the core of this story as his real life experience which he penned down in Odia language to bag an award as best story. It was his plus two time experience in 1980s.
Dr Lalitendu met a fatal accident on 20th of April. He was a hard working, philanthropic human. His young experience speaks how beautiful was his soul.
I begged his permission to recreate this story in English in 2016. This is the first story of my book, "Twenty Tales", published in 2017.) 

The Soda Pusher and the Street Dancer.

Lalitendu, as he walked down an unused street, that once upon a time was a rush road before the construction of the flyover, recollected his old memories. To reach this road he used to pass through a breach in the boundary wall in front of East hostel of his Ravenshaw college. With regular use by boarders, it had become an unnamed lane. 
The lane met the road at the soda pusher's stop. The shop at the stop sold soda.The process of opening the bottle by pushing down a small bulb was a technique mastered by the cart owner earning the name, 'Soda Pusher'. It was not a shop in true sense, but a cart with a flat top having multiple holes to carry the soda bottles upside down that looked fascinating even if there was no variety.  Coke was driven out of the country,  the only available cola was a campa cola, Its cost was ten times of a soda bottle that was sold at thirty paise a bottle.Many people stopped there to drink a soda, raw, as a poor man's cold drink.
 The boarders also visited the cart, Lalitendu too. 

There was a street book store that sold old and partially new books of all kinds, at a discount of fifty percent or more. Lalitendu had a passion to browse the stall to find a classic, often available. This made his presence in the place for enough time to observe the soda pusher. It was difficult for him to understand how the man always looked so jolly with this ordinary business. He even did some philanthropic work, offered a bottle to a beggar or a poor. A very positive feeling, Lalitendu carried with himself from this common man. He subconsciously became an admirer of the Soda seller.

One day Lalitendu spent a long time in the book shop. He could collect a copy of “Gitanjali” of Viswakabi on the street, which he felt to be great disrespect to the Noble laureate. He searched more time to bail out more classic books from the street to his cupboard. 

Staying long hours he could observe one more thing. 

A youngman, a thorough lunatic was dancing on the street.

The dance steps had tinge of refined classical Odishi. The boy was singing a popular devotional song of Radha offering Sri Krishna. This man in woman's attire was dancing for hours as people gathered there to see him. He had never seen a psychotic to perform like him. 
The shopkeeper informed him. This youngman left his study in 'Sangeet Mahavidyalay' as he became mentally imbalanced, identifying a real Radha in him.
 He would be dancing for hours together without being visibly tired.

Lalitendu moved there. He saw the wonderful dance of devotion that delighted everyone except the soda pusher.

After some minutes the soda man came with a bottle of cola, with the motherly love of Jashoda. He with a very tender voice told, "Radha! Oh my dear child, your dance is enough, I should release your Krishna from the lock up, where I have kept him captive, will not demand that he is mine only. You definitely deserve Him. But please stop dancing, you are too tired dear, Jasoda can never see you drop down dancing. So please have this cola and stop it now, I can't bear it anymore”.

People dispersed as the dancer obeyed the command, many had tear drops rolling down, could not know whether it was for the street dancer or for the soda pusher or for the Supreme Shrikrishna.  

Lalitendu with Gitanjali in hand could feel, one more poem of Tagore, entered to the pages, to be treasured forever.

( The story is based on Lalitendu Jena’s narration of his own Odia story that fetched an award, which he wrote as a class twelve student in Ravenshaw college.)

This story is dedicated to noted literary person, Sri Ramachandra Behera on Laitendu’s request.