A good deed or act is something that does not live only for a moment, it travels with time and brings some unforeseen surprises at opportune moments in future life. This brings to my mind an incident about an impoverished salesman who used to visit our house when I was a child. He had a wife, three daughters and a son to support and a meagre income. So whenever he came to sell eggs or bread that were not urgently needed, my mother would still oblige him by buying them.

His wife and daughters used to come visiting sometimes and my mother would charitably donate to them whatever she could spare. Time sped by and when I had passed out of high school, I learnt that the salesman was no more. Since we too had changed towns so many times, we wondered what had become of his family.

Life had taken many twists and turns for my parents too as we the children had grown up and had lives and families of our own.

I stopped and wondered sadly many times that my old parents had now lost many valuable friends and relatives and had no option but to live alone. Their only hopes rested on meeting a grandchild or far-settled son or daughter. At such times when one looks back, one only tends to think of the past as a dead thing.

But, one day, I learnt that the past lives on in our deeds.

One day my parents were taken by surprise when they opened their door to complete strangers. They could not recognise the handsome, young doctor or his old mother. Later, my parents learnt that the young doctor was the salesman’s son and the old lady was the salesman’s wife. They had not forgotten my mother and father and had traced them after years of tireless search.