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!!!!