When we were small kids, we were taught in moral education to help the needy. I used to wonder if I would ever get a chance to help someone. I never came across any blind man , who needed help to cross the road , nor did I ever came across an old lady who needed help to carry a heavy bag. There might have been occasions , where someone might have needed my help, but I might have failed to notice it.
Anyways, its not the point.Recently I got an opportunity to help two kids and I can't thank god enough for it.
I was on my way to MBA coaching class. At one of the stops, 2 kids got into the bus, they caught my attention the moment I saw them. They had a squalid appearance. The bus was not very crowded and there were a few vacant seats. But they were too shy or rather afraid to sit next to someone.( Most of the passengers did not want them to sit next to them, the woman who was sitting alone on my neighboring seat shifted to the edge of the seat, so that those 2 kids couldn't sit beside her).
Since I was sitting alone, I signaled them to come and sit next to me. They were talking in a language I couldn’t understand. The little fella was carrying a packet of biscuits and apparently he wanted to eat it, but his elder sister was trying to convince him not to eat that ( may be she wanted to save that to eat later ). I was so engrossed in watching them, that I didn’t see the conductor coming and asking for the fare. The girl gave him the 2 coins she had. But they weren’t enough. The conductor asked her to pay the remaining fare, and on her failure to do so, he started shouting at her in Konkani, giving her bad words. The girl was reduced to tears. I could no longer withstand that, I asked the conductor to stop shouting and offered to pay on behalf of the girl. The conductor then took the money I gave and went away.
The girl turned and looked at me with her teary eyes, and gave me a smile – that was the most beautiful smile I had ever seen in my life. It was so innocent, so pure, so genuine . They say god resides in the hearts of small children, I truly experienced it.
When we reached Panjim, they got down along with me. I watched them go and stand near a shop. I couldn’t get myself stop from gazing at them- may be they were waiting for their parents, what if they didn’t have parents, what are they going to do, where do they stay, how do they survive, who looks after them, do they go to a school – countless questions clouded my mind. I was getting late for my class, I went up to them, bought them 2 chocolates and reluctantly left for my class. I thought about them all the time in the class, when it got over, I rushed to the bus stand, hoping to see them there, but I didn’t find them near that shop. I searched frantically all over the bus stand but couldn’t find them. I’m still not able to get them off my mind. Finally I prayed to god to keep them safe where ever they were and went back to my bus with a heavy heart.
