An Unnoticed Act of Kindness…

It’s that day of the week we all are eagerly waiting for… esp. the people in IT. Weekend!!! Friday is the happiest day of the week. By 5:30 people are out of their desks packing and catching the bus, which supposedly leaves at 5:40 while in reality leaves everyday sharp at 5:38. Some unknown timeserver has synced the admin’s clock 2 mins early. The bus is full packed especially because of the fact, ‘Oye it’s Friday’… And there… just before the whistle is heard, ‘She’ boards the bus. She is carrying the most well known women’s accessory the purse and some documents and wait a min… she is also carrying a box wrapped like a gift…. It’s her last day in this office…

She takes a seat near by and keeps her gift and documents safely. Suddenly she gets a call from a friend. This friend is the usual ‘latecomer’ who thinks the bus will leave at IST. Oh no wait… she knows that the bus leaves early, that’s why she called her friend to stop the bus for her. Smart!

The girl in the bus, the devoted friend that she is, tells the driver to stop the bus. The driver is near the gate and finds a suitable place to stop the bus. The driver is very dedicated to his work and absolutely punctual. This idea of waiting for a latecomer is just not okay with him. But he can’t disobey a direct order in an obvious manner. So he starts the bus slowly and takes it a few steps ahead. The friend gets nervous that he might go ahead and frantically calls the latecomer to tell her to hurry up. She spots her friend who btw just got out of the building and is taking her own sweet time to get to the bus. Now the driver has had it. He starts the bus defiantly. The friend gets down to call the latecomer like ‘DDLJ style’ only here the Dulha gets down the bus. The bus driver takes it as a green signal and drives away.

Meanwhile fellow passengers have just noticed something. The girl left her gift and most importantly some documents in the bus. The ones she kept safely on her seat. The ladies who were sitting near the girl’s seat are telling ‘each other’ to stop the bus and also the fact that how this must be that loyal friend’s last day in office. The documents must be her relieving letter. Bingo! They are right. Now it’s the dilemma, the moral social responsibility for a fellow passenger/colleague against this very self indulged driver who is still only engrossed in speeding up and turning deaf ears to the airy whispers of people telling ‘EACH OTHER’ again, to stop the bus. No direct orders so no need to stop the bus.

In all this, suddenly a lady emerges from the whispers and accepts that she knows this girl and vehemently takes the responsibility of the ‘valuables’ saying “haan ab toh lena hi padega”. She calls the girl. Asks her for options and means in which the girl will take away the ‘valuables’ and she will be relieved of her responsibilities. They agree on some measure in which probably the girl would have to come to office the next day to fetch her stuff from the kind lady. Today may not be her last day in this office after all!!!

20 mins have passed since the episode and by now the bus has reached the highway. Suddenly after the traffic signal went green the guy beside me who was very silent until now got up and asked another guy near the driver to tell him to stop the bus. All the people are stunned… what’s wrong now?? The guy explains that apparently the girl was following in another bus, which was coming behind this one, and that she is coming to catch this bus. This time the driver stops since he got a direct order ‘again’. The passengers are excited. This girl is catching up. People are seeing out of the window. They can hear her footsteps now...

I am wondering. How did this guy know? He didn’t get any phone call I m certain of that. Then how did he? The girl gets into the bus. She is very grateful…. to the lady who kept her stuff so ‘Safe’. It doesn’t strike her to think of the question, who stopped the bus? Who came to know that she was following?? She is oblivious to this unknown person’s unnoticed act of kindness. He is concerned. He silently observes her coming back into the bus, she thanking the lady loud enough. He is concerned of whether she got her important documents or not. Then he is at ease. But a slight disappointment appears on his face. His efforts were unnoticed. My curiosity arose again and I asked. That was the least bit that I could do and ask him how he knew she was following. He said, “The driver of the other bus was signaling our driver to stop”. That’s how he knew. One simple observation, accurate understanding and perfect application of common sense is all that it took. He smiled. He was content that his effort was indeed not unnoticed after all. One question is all that it took. Happy Weekend!!!!

Life moves on......

The moment of truth…. when u wake up in the morning and hear her scream. She has just received the news of her sister’s death. Her beloved sister, whom she wasn’t able to meet in 14 years. The rush of shock and pain strike your heart at once. Your priority is her pain now. She has always been that sensitive and emotional person who has given her entire life and devotion to her people, her family. And losing one of them is like losing one part of herself. Now she is looking for that part of herself in everything. She wants to remember each and everything she knew about her sister. She wants to learn the things she didn’t about her. So that she can once again rebind with her. Find her ‘self’. This soul searching leads her to the saddest street. The street called ‘if only’. If only I had spoken to her yesterday. If only I had somehow defied my circumstances and met her. If only I had done more to help her. She knows that what happened in no way could have changed by doing anything else on her part. And as if the pain was not killing enough there is that fact of ‘life moves on’… How can it? One important person is left behind. One piece of your heart taken away.. Then how can life move on.. She sees and hears the world around her and realizes the life led by other people. People are going to their day’s work. Hoping to find something engaging today. Hoping to find hope to live on today. There is the continuous cycle of day and night and before she knows, its almost an year.

You wake up today, she is waking you up… This time she is giving you a news... “The King of pop is no more they say on TV.” You wake up, the news hasn’t sunk in yet. The shock hasn’t shown up yet. And you ask her why on earth did she have to give you such news while waking you up in the first place?
It’s late already and you need to get ready for office. TV channels are flashing the news. This time you give it your notice. All these years your favorite star was in recluse and his sudden death didn’t shock you at first. But as time passes you feel the heaviness. The man you loved as an icon is no more. It’s on the TV, radio and the Internet. People are frenzy everywhere. How/what/when questions seek answers. And the feeling of loss takes its place everywhere.

However slowly life gets back to normal again. Life has in fact moved on. You stare at the cruelty of life. Life of a person, be it of a sister or of an icon or any other creature on this planet has importance only until its alive. Once that biological functioning of breath stops, life has moved on. The people directly involved are halted only for a moment. But they have to get back on, on this ‘track of life’. They feel how can life be so brutal. How can life ask us to get going? But Life’s not asking you. It’s commanding you. Those who fail to take these orders are only left behind.

Once in a while people fall back and travel the ‘if only’ path again… You fill your mind with memories of your beloved ones and thrive on their strength. And as the moment passes away, you breath again, you take the next step, you live again.