I was waiting at the bus-stop one evening for my usual 4 o'clock ride. After a long and exhausting day, I generally sub-consciously think of the refreshing shower with cold water once I reach home. Since that was a Friday evening I was thinking about the weekend movie plans with friends.
Then I saw him. He looked like a well fed and pampered adolescent boy like me. He was also dressed like a boy from a well-off family. He was holding out a polythene cover and trying to convey something through hand gestures to a man standing next to me who looked like he was in his early forties. The man who although looked confused fetched out an Rs 10 note from his pocket and placed it in the polythene bag. I understood that the boy could not speak.
Then the boy approached me with a smile. He pointed at something on the other side of the road and then held out the bag. I could see some Rs 10 and Rs 20 notes in the bag. Although I could not understand what he was trying to say or what he was pointing to, I thought he must have some genuine reason for asking money. I too dropped in a Rs 20 note. He thanked me with a smile and went on to the next person. Almost everyone present there gave him a 10 or 20 because he looked decent and I observed there were only 10's and 20's in the bag.
He thanked everyone with the same smile. He then crossed the road. All this while everyone was observing him. He then fetched out an Rs 20 from his pocket, put it in the bag and gave the bag to a physically disadvantaged woman sitting on the foot path beside the bus-stop on the opposite side of the road. Even from the distance I could see that her face lit up with absolute gratitude. And then he walked away gracefully.
I was absolutely dumbstruck. So were the people around me. These people who would've at the most given her 1 or 2 rupee coins gave the boy at least 10 rupees. And as for me I may not even have acknowledged her presence and may have been engrossed in my own thoughts. That actions of the boy put every one of us present there to shame and guilty of the way we treat others who are less advantageous than us. I was still deep in my thoughts when my bus came. And I boarded it with tears rolling down my cheeks and a smile on my lips.
At that moment itself I knew that his endearing smile and her glinting eyes would forever be etched in my memory and would never let me lose hope in humanity.
Then I saw him. He looked like a well fed and pampered adolescent boy like me. He was also dressed like a boy from a well-off family. He was holding out a polythene cover and trying to convey something through hand gestures to a man standing next to me who looked like he was in his early forties. The man who although looked confused fetched out an Rs 10 note from his pocket and placed it in the polythene bag. I understood that the boy could not speak.
Then the boy approached me with a smile. He pointed at something on the other side of the road and then held out the bag. I could see some Rs 10 and Rs 20 notes in the bag. Although I could not understand what he was trying to say or what he was pointing to, I thought he must have some genuine reason for asking money. I too dropped in a Rs 20 note. He thanked me with a smile and went on to the next person. Almost everyone present there gave him a 10 or 20 because he looked decent and I observed there were only 10's and 20's in the bag.
He thanked everyone with the same smile. He then crossed the road. All this while everyone was observing him. He then fetched out an Rs 20 from his pocket, put it in the bag and gave the bag to a physically disadvantaged woman sitting on the foot path beside the bus-stop on the opposite side of the road. Even from the distance I could see that her face lit up with absolute gratitude. And then he walked away gracefully.
I was absolutely dumbstruck. So were the people around me. These people who would've at the most given her 1 or 2 rupee coins gave the boy at least 10 rupees. And as for me I may not even have acknowledged her presence and may have been engrossed in my own thoughts. That actions of the boy put every one of us present there to shame and guilty of the way we treat others who are less advantageous than us. I was still deep in my thoughts when my bus came. And I boarded it with tears rolling down my cheeks and a smile on my lips.
At that moment itself I knew that his endearing smile and her glinting eyes would forever be etched in my memory and would never let me lose hope in humanity.
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