Stories of Kindness from Around the World

Life seems to be an untiring teacher. At every turn, in every twist, it holds out a lesson. Is it because we are the typical, indifferent, happy-go-lucky students who forget the lesson the moment the class is over? I wonder. But, whether we like it or not, the teacher teaches us constantly. It is up to us whether we learn or not.

The other day, after my morning walk, I stopped my car at a roadside teashop in Secunderabad in India. I like to patronize the small vendors, whether it is the local grocer or the vegetable hawker who sells vegetables from house to house carrying the basket on her head. Or the flower seller on his cycle. My conviction is that my business with them goes a long way for them. The personal relationship built up through daily interaction goes a long way for me. Therefore, the stop at the tea shop on the way home after the walk.

As I sipped the tea sitting at the steering wheel, I heard some customers mouth four-letter words. I turned to see what was happening. An ill-kempt young woman, in a loosely, carelessly draped sari was giggling and sipping tea. She had apparently dropped some of it mischievously on the men reading the day’s paper and the resultant abuse, albeit it was good natured.

The tea vendor did not have change for Rs 10 that I offered in payment so I asked for another cup (a disposable mini glass that holds no more than four sips of tea). I got the second cup with two coins in change of two rupees each. Just then the woman walked to my window and pleaded for money. “I am hungry,” she said. I got slightly apprehensive. Mentally unstable people can be unpredictable; they can get unpleasant and abusive. The tea vendor too shared my apprehensions. He tried to call her to his side but she remained at my window, pleading for money.

More out of a desire to be rid of her I gave a two-rupee coin to the vendor and asked him to give her the freshly-made bhajjis (an Indian snack) that were sitting in a dish in his mini shop. She readily went over to him much to my relief. The customer whose paper the woman had ruined earlier, again let out some expletives. “She is refusing the bhajjis although she’s getting three instead of two,” he said appreciating the vendor’s generosity (Apparently he was a friend of the vendor). She refused the bhajjis as he offered them with his left hand. She wanted him to hand them over with his right hand. She could do with some respect apparently (giving with left hand is considered ill mannered in our culture) . When he obliged her, she asked that they be given in a piece of paper, the same way in which they are served to other customers. More expletives accompanied by laughter. And the man obliged.

She took the paper and began to wipe may car’s rear glass window. When the men tried to restrain her, saying she would be leaving scratches on the glass, she said she had to clean it since “Amma” (mother literally but here it is respectful address) had given her food to eat. She then wiped the door and came to the front to clean the windshield. Even as the men poked fun at her, I gave her the other two-rupee coin for her trouble and said “Thank you” to her in English. “Thank you so much,” she responded in English, setting off more laughter from the men. She too giggled delightedly at her own smartness.

Then as I started the car to leave she placed a small book on the dashboard through the window. “That book is for you,” she said. I noticed from the corner of my eye, it was a booklet of Nokia mobile and it was singed at the corners. Picked up from a dustbin, perhaps? “Thank you,” I said again. She then quickly, literally out of nowhere, pulled out a small string of fragrant jasmines and tied it to the wiper. As I looked directly into her face for the first time in total surprise, she smiled a child’s smile.  “Bye,” she called out as I let go of the clutch. Bye, I responded and revved up.

The catch in my throat remained as I took a long route back home, unable to get over the wonder at receiving so much in return for so little that I gave.