"There's nothing great exercise for a heart that reached down and help the people to lift up."
It
was the month of January and was an extreme cold in Delhi. In that
Icy evening of Delhi, keeping his hands in his coats pocket,
alongside the pavement of a two-lane road he was walking towards his
home. The cold was enough to make feel her presence and it was enough
to not let allow the people to come out from their warm place and
warm dresses. But there are other things he need to think and to care
about.
On
his way to his home, the only he's thinking about the Word is
“Recession”, the word that sacked out the masses from their
earnings. Many people got unemployed. Some of them move to their
hometowns, Some of them was not able to bear that happening and run
into with death. Some of them was from fine background and thus they
involved in their family business. But most of them are still in this
city, In the hope, Some fine day everything in near future will be great. And he was
one of them. He was never looking for a quit. Ever since he
pink-slipped from his job, he'd been unemployed with a very little
earnings with to and fro jobs. But when painful day hits you, it
hits like an atmospheric phenomenon, when the poor usually get more
poor. And as the chillness of winter ragged on, the chill had finally
hit his home also.
It
was late in evening, just about to a night thus the road was alone.
Not very many people had a reason to be on it, unless they were
leaving. He was thinking most of his friends that had
already left this country to make an earning in Dollars or in Pounds.
They had families to feed and dreams to fulfill. He also had. But he
decided to stayed on. After all, this was the place where
his father and mother born and grew, this is the place where he
buried them. It is the same place where he was born,
where he had grown up and he knew the
city very well, he knew this country very well. Then how can he left
his motherland. Because in his own belief, Serving people of our own
motherland is the best service. He could go down here on every road
like a dazzled, and tell you what was on either side.
Lost
in his own thoughts, he was walking alone on that lonely road. While
on the other side of road he almost didn't able to see
that old lady, who is standing on the
other side of the road with her car. But even in the
high darkness of evening, with the help of road-lights, he could see
and realize that she need someone's help. So he crossed the road and
walked to her. At the time he approached to her, due to his poor
dresses, he look like as highway robber.
Even
with the smile on his face, she was worried. No one had stopped to
help for the last hour or so.
Was
he going to hurt her? He didn't look safe? He's here to steal her
precious things? Various thoughts rolled through her
mind in an instant. He
looked poor and hungry, He looks like a highway robber or criminal.
Or he is here to help her.
He
could see that she was frightened, standing out there in the cold. He
knew how she felt. It was that chill that only fear can put in you.
“I
think you're in trouble. Can I help you Ma'am?”. He asked.
She
was very frightened. She truly need a help. She can believe on him
due to his helping question or she still can be doubt on him due to
his abominable appearance.
“Please
don't be in trouble. I'm here to help you Ma'am”. He tried to make
that old lady a believe about his good being. “And My name is
Aakash”. He introduced himself.
“Yes
I need a help. My car has a puncture.” She reacted by pointing
towards punctured tire of her car.
“Oh!,
don't be panic, I can fix it. by the time, why don't you wait in the
car where it's warm.” He replied with a more serving nature.
All
she had a trouble was due to a flat tire, but for an old lady, that
was bad enough. crawled under the car looking for a place to put the
jack, skinning his knuckles a time or two. Soon he was able to change
the tire. But he was not professional, his hands got too much dirty
and injured too. After changing the car's tire, he turned towards the
window of car.
“It's
all done Ma'am”.
She
stepped out from her car and began to talk to him. She
told him that she was from that place in Delhi and was only returning
from her friend's home. She told him, she couldn't have enough words to
thank him for coming to help her. He just smiled.
She
asked him how much she has to pay for this. Lucre of being wealthy is
that you need not to worry about money. Any amount would have been
alright with her. She had already imagined all the awful things that
could have happened if he had not stopped to help her.
He
never thought twice about the money. This was not a job to him. This
was helping someone in need, and God knows there were plenty who had
given him a hand in the past. He had lived his whole life that way,
and it never occurred to him to act any other way. He told her that
if she really wanted to pay him back, the next time she saw someone
who needed help, she could give that person the assistance that they
needed, and he added - “and think of me".
He
waited there until she started her car and drove off. It had been a
cold and depressing day for him, but he felt good in that late
evening when he headed for home.
A
few miles down the road the lady saw a small cafe. She went in to
grab a bite to eat, and take some rest before she made the last round
of her journey to home. It was a dirty looking restaurant, not so
good.
The
restaurant waitress came over and brought a clean towel to
wipe her wet hair. She had a sweet smile, one that even being on her
feet for the whole day couldn't erase. The lady noticed that the
waitress was nearly seven months pregnant, but she never let the
stress and strain and aches to change her attitude. The old lady
wondered how someone who had so little with her own body could be so
helpful to a stranger. Then she remembered him, the person who helped
her when she needed the most.
She
asked for bill after finishing her meal. The bill was of one-hundred
fifty rupees somehow. She placed a five-hundred note to pay the bill.
when the waitress went to get her change from a five hundred rupees,
the lady slipped right out the door. She was gone by the time the
waitress came back. She wondered where the lady gone without picking
her money. Then she noticed something written on a napkin that was
placed under the plate. She raised that piece of napkin and started
to read, there were tears rolling down from her eyes, when she read
what the lady wrote. It said, "You don't owe me a thing, you
don't need to be in debt for anything. I've been there too. Someone
once helped me out, the way I'm helping you. If you really want to
pay me back, here's what you have to do is very simple. Don't let
this trust and love ends with you. Keep moving on, with love in heart
for everyone. When someone who needs help, just give your
assistance.” And then she raised the five thousand rupees that the
lady left for her under the same plate.
It
was already a very late evening. No one is present in the restaurant
and due to the chilled whether outside it also seems no one is going
to come at this place now. There were tables to clear, sugar bowls to
fill, gadgets to clean, things to make set up. But she can made it
through tomorrow.
That
night when she got home from work and climbed into bed, she was
thinking about the money and what the lady had written. How could she
have known how much she and her husband needed this money? With the baby due
after two month, it was going to be hard. She knew how worried her
husband was from last few months. And in night, as he lay sleeping next to her, she
gave him a soft kiss and whispered soft and low, "Someday everything is going to be alright, I love you Aakash."
"If you give a little love, you can get a little love of your own."
"I believe the world is a very big family and we all need to help each other." - Jet Li
Regards
Dhitendra
Keep Smiling :-)
