Hari meets Anil

A young thief. The narrator is a fifteen-year-old thief. He has stolen before and takes a new name every month to stay ahead of the police and his former employers. At a wrestling match he picks out Anil, about twenty-five, who looks 'easygoing, kind and simple'.

Flattery. 'You look a bit of a wrestler yourself,' he says. 'A little flattery helps in making friends.' He calls himself Hari Singh. Anil says he can't pay him. 'Can you feed me?' 'Can you cook?' 'I can cook,' I lied again.

A bad cook, a good teacher. His first meal is so awful that Anil gives it to a stray dog and tells him to go. But Hari hangs around smiling, and Anil laughs and says he'll teach him to cook. He also teaches him to write his name, and promises whole sentences and sums.

A little cheating. Hari makes tea in the morning and buys the day's food, making 'a profit of about a rupee a day'. Anil probably knows, and doesn't mind.

Complete trust. Anil makes money 'by fits and starts': borrowing one week, lending the next, waiting for his next cheque from the magazines he writes for. He gives Hari a key to the door. 'He was the most trusting person I had ever met. And that is why it was so difficult to rob him.'