Help Endures…

I used to think, ‘a visit to the world’s wonder gives me a life-time amusement and indelible feeling I hold up to my heart’ but, I could never imagine that I’d meet a ‘helping heart’ until I met so. I was exhilarated because, Ravi accompanied me since the beginning of that precious event, till the end. It all happened when we went on a trip to the dumbfounding ‘TAJ MAHAL’ with our parents in the final year of M.Tech.

It was one of the longest n loveliest days in my life so far. We started to Agra from Delhi at 6 am and we returned at 6.30 am, next day. During the whole 24 hrs, hardly we experienced a 2 to 3 hrs of fun while watching the Taj, and the else time went with an insipid ‘to n fro’ journey.

When I reached my hostel I opened my handbag to pay the auto driver. I couldn’t find my valet, even after the clumsy search. It consisted of my college ID card, two ATM cards and near about Rs. 250. Though it was not a big amount, I felt so emotional about the valet. Ravi and me rushed back to the railway station to search for it. We were very much tired after an unsuccessful attempt to find it. My eyes filled up with quick tears and he consoled me like any thing. After some time, we returned to IIT with well-tried heavy hearts.

I completely believed that I lost my valet and the contents in it. I prepared myself to go to the bank and cancel the ATM card. After a couple of hours of deep sleep I heard an announcement in our floor speaker, hostel receptionist addressing me. I reached there in few seconds; Guard gave me the land phone receiver and said, “call for you from the IIT PG section”.

“ Hello”
“Hello…Are you pramoda?” a male voice enquired.
“Yes, I’m” I replied.
“Were you in Agra last night?” he asked me.
I’m astonished and said yes. Again he asked me, whether I lost my valet??
With a quick ‘Yes’, I replied.
He said,” Some one called here and informed me that your valet is with him and he gave me one mobile number. You can call on that number and collect it. Note it down... XXXXXXXXX” … It sounded like a sweet melody for me…I replaced the receiver with a quick ‘yes’ and ‘thank you’.

I dialed that number immediately; a male voice answered that call. He said his name and continued, “ Your valet is with me. I’ll be waiting at AIIMS hospital main gate. You can come and collect it”.

How sweet, I felt like I was in new world… I loved the whole mankind… I liked the traffic jam in he mid-way too. At that moment I felt my surroundings nurturing.

Again Ravi and me rushed to that place to meet him. All the way we eagerly waited to meet him. At last we met him at the main entrance door of the AIIMS hospital. We talked to him as if he was the most superior to us. He said that he found that valet near by his feet when he was on the Agra railway platform and admitted, “ I opened the valet and I saw the ID card and ATM cards. I called the phone number of the office written on the ID card and informed them my number”

Then I asked him out of interest “ Are you from Delhi?”
He replied, “ No, I’m from Agra only. I’ve a small craft shop near the Taj mahal.”
After that he said heart-felt news to us. “My 9 months old baby is suffering from a heart problem. We came to AIIMS for her treatment. It’s a severe problem; doctors are also finding no way to get her out of danger”.

We felt very sad after listening to him. We thanked him before we turned back. Ravi n me decided to give him some thing, so we went to the fruit shop and brought apples and returned to him, where he was sitting with his family.

The baby was smiling and charming in a baby pink suit, as if she hadn’t any hurdles to stay in this world. We played with her for some time and we handed over the fruits to his wife. He denied taking them, after an urge he said, “ You people also take half of them, because we both shared the joy equally. I don’t need any thing from you other than a deep wish and pray for my baby to be healthy”. We thanked him and finally we convinced him to take all those.

On the way back to IIT, I recollected the couple of times I found once the ATM card and other time the Bank passbook on the roads of IIT and the way I handed them to the guards in IIT. I shared the same with Ravi too. But I believe that the way I got back my valet is far better than the way I gave it to the guard.

I explained all of my friends about that incident and about that person and his baby. Every one praised him and prayed for the baby, which propelled me to feel some more joyful about the incident.

I still feel fresh when I reminisce the whole thing. I’m still astonished, “being in that much deep pain about his baby, how the person could be so sensitized about other’s feelings?? How he could be so simple when he said he needs nothing more than a prayer for his baby??”

I feel I’m very lucky to be a part of that incident. I can say the help he does endures… It is an unremitting feeling that is to be cherished for life long. It gives a working example of the whopping grace in mankind and a bountiful belief in humans.

A couple of weeks later the same person called me and told me that the baby had died because of the heart problem and he also invited both of us to his home on our next visit to Agra.

This is all about it. I confess myself in one thing that I didn’t mention his name in this post … Can you guess why because??

It is because…I’m unable to recollect his name…in other words I don’t remember his name though I felt an absolute joy because of him. Even in my mobile I’ve stored his number as ‘help’, but not by his name. It’s really a stupid side of me. I regret n curse myself for it.

I wrote this because, I feel this is the worthy place to keep this story and to keep fresh my feelings towards that and also to confess myself as mentioned.

‘Help Ever… Not because you need help someday, but because you can help everyday’