Leaving Footprints of Kindness in the Sands of Time

-----  Published in The Women's Era - April 2017 II issue

“Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.”  

Mark Twain wrote this universal truth almost 150 years ago but his words ring true even to this day.  His words are especially relevant today than ever before as we all lead a highly commercial, urban life, where ‘me, myself and mine’ are the key words that people live by.

A small act of kindness can generate so much warmth, while kindling something deep in our souls – it has a language of its own that goes beyond words or grammar!  Infact, when we look back at life’s moments, it is so easy to remember and recollect such warm moments when we have received help and kindness from unexpected quarters.  

On our trip to Rajasthan in December 2016, we were blessed to enjoy the genuine warmth and kindness of the village folks.  While driving from Deshnoke to Jaisalmer, we went past several narrow and deserted stretches of road.  At one such place, our car got stuck in the desert sand - it would not budge. We tried pushing the car, but all our efforts only ended in the wheels sinking deeper into the fine mud.  There was neither a man nor a vehicle in sight.  We were a little panic-stricken at this point.

Luckily, there was a very small community (formed of just a couple of houses) about 500 m from where our vehicle had stopped.  We walked up to them to seek their help. We found a young man sitting on a broken chair and explained our situation to him– I guess our tone must have indicated our panic.  But he remained calm and unruffled.  His mother who had heard us talking came out, and immediately, without any hesitation, asked us to have some tea.  We were completely surprised at her kind and warm gesture – after all, we were total strangers.  We thanked her but refused her offer.   Sensing our panic, she comforted us and said “Don’t worry, we will help you with your car.  But first have some tea!”  We smiled our thanks and declined again.  In the meanwhile, the young man along with two little boys accompanied us to our car.  They carried a small spade with them.  While we were wondering how they planned to rescue the car, the man asked the kid carrying the spade to cut a few branches of the thorny bush growing beside the muddy road.  He placed these in front of all the four car wheels and asked my husband to start the car.  While we all pushed from the rear, the tyres gained friction against the thorny bushes and started moving without getting stuck in the sand.  And lo and behold, within a minute, we were out of our sticky situation!  We thanked the young man and the kids profusely for their kind help and offered a small token of money.  But he refused to accept it -we had to almost thrust the note into his hands to get him to take it! 

Again, on reaching Jaisalmer, we stopped our car near the parking area, where several other vehicles were parked.  Within a few seconds, a couple of locals who were vehicle-drivers approached us and pointed to a broken plate that was hanging down underneath the engine. As we were trying to gauge the problem, one of them went down on his knees, examined the underside of our car and told us that the screws had fallen off the plate.  Within a few seconds, he fixed the broken plate with the screws and wire.  We were amazed at his thoughtfulness and asked him how much we had to pay for his timely help.  His reply further astounded us – “You have come from a different state and are visiting our town; you are our guests.  We want you to carry good thoughts about our state and our people. We are happy to help you, please do not talk about paying us.”   

On hearing him, we in fact felt a little ashamed – ashamed that we had actually suspected him of having an ulterior motive in helping us.  His simple and small act of kindness opened our eyes and warmed our hearts no end!