Do You Need Them Now?

As I touched them,
Those 5-Rupee-Coins
10-Rupee-Coins
2-Rupee-Coins
1-Rupee-Coins..

That he had kept in the coins' pocket
Of his brown wallet
With the hope of touching them
The next day
For paying a parking fee
Or giving some change
To a shopkeeper

The coins the he did not touch
Ever again
The coins, gathering rust, over
The last fifteen months,
As the wallet gathered fungus
At one corner of his briefcase..

The stack of Visiting Cards
Stating his qualification
And position
In another pocket..

I touched those hopes
Of his
As I touched them
As I took them out..

Keeping the coins
In front of his picture,
I said to him,
You might need these, Baba,
You are traveling far..
Do they accept these coins there?

Rubbing the Visiting Cards
In my palms
I try to feel his fingers
When he last took one out
And made his presence felt..

Trying to feel the hope
With which he had kept
That stack back in the wallet
Never knowing that
He would never touch them again..

I keep them in a shelf..
Shelved.. the cards get..
As he needs no introduction
To the world
To which he has traveled..