E-Paper
Spice of life | Brush of faith with act of compassion
Out of the blue, a young man stopped his white car and offered to drop us to the nearest hospital. A tea vendor gathered our belongings and assured us he would safeguard them. Within seconds, the three of us were hauled into the car and transported to the hospital
The New Year’s sun dawned bright in the sky. My son and I were busy making customary greeting calls from the back seat as our car moved on. Suddenly, my son exclaimed that our chauffer seemed to have fainted and his hands fell off from the steering wheel.
Panic gripped us yet my son kept cool and using his presence of mind pulled the handbrake and at the same time tried to manoeuvre the steering. Heavy traffic plies on the road we travel, besides cars, buses, multiple axle heavy goods trucks and tractor-trollies. Caught in a precarious situation, our life seemed to hang by a fragile thread. The car jumped through the divider onto the wrong side, took an oblong trajectory across the road up a pile of stones and hit bang on to a tree. A cascade of glass pieces and a blackout.
Helping hands rushed in. Doors were jerked open and we were taken out of the mangled vehicle. My heart missed a beat as I saw my son’s blood-soaked face. Shivering to the core, we hugged each other. The poor chauffer was still unconscious. The next few minutes were the most harrowing ones of my life as I frantically called emergency numbers for help. Sobbing, we stood amid a teeming crowd for what seemed eternity and no response.
Out of the blue, a young man stopped his white car and offered to drop us to the nearest hospital. A tea vendor gathered our belongings and assured us he would safeguard them. Within seconds, the three of us were hauled into the car and transported to the hospital. The angel handed us over to the medical staff and departed apologising profusely that he had to rush due to some emergency. He did not bother about the soiled white upholstery nor did he let us thank him properly. He restored our faith in humanity and the Good Samaritan moved on.
Involuntarily, my head moves across to the spot as I travel everyday on the same road. It is a marvel how the car crossed the narrow gap in the divider. Thank God we did not collide head on with any vehicle. Our wounds healed slowly yet the incident is etched in my memory for the brush of faith and His benign blessing. Often we hide behind a fragile veil of alibi and skip little deeds of humanity. Our exigency appears monumental compared to someone else’s gravity.
I do not share my personal experience on this public platform in a hackneyed attempt to reach the benefactor. Our social media is replete with incidents of deceit and fraud; I am compelled to pen a purgatory note of an act of compassion. As we usher in another year with gaiety and revelry, the world celebrates thanksgiving, I bow my head in reverence to the Secret Santa. He appeared all of a sudden, helped us and vanished into thin air. kalrasuruchi@yahoo.com
The writer is an associate professor of English at Hindu Girls College, Jagadhri
