Random acts
As I drove through Kotturpuram, the pillion rider on the whizzing motorbike gesticulated wildly. I looked him in the eye and drove on. Now, a car sidled up, the driver miming. He brought his vehicle to a complete stop beside mine, opened his windows and gestured. His lane was free. Mine was choc-a-bloc. Why were so many people nasty today?
Just a couple of minutes earlier, a luxury owner-driven vehicle had honked hard, moved one vehicle ahead, smirking as he passed by. Now, this latest chap refused to leave. I stared indignantly. He did not back down. My door was partially ajar, he indicated. I felt ashamed. Because of another person, I had misjudged two good people who had taken trouble for an unknown, unappreciative woman. Through my contrition, I felt joy – how nice to live among people that cared!
That evening, at the concert of a scholarly musician, I ensconced myself, as always, ramrod centre, in the second row. I preferred the first row, in fact, but prior experiences indicated that one could be uprooted therefrom abruptly, should those who mattered arrived. Sometime in the middle of the concert, Elderly Gentleman A walked in, seated himself in the seat directly in front of me. No sooner had his posterior touched the plastic when he turned around, looked at me, then the vacant seat to my right, and moved to the seat to his right. “I don’t want to obstruct you,” he said. If I had been surprised on the road earlier, now I was literally stunned. Recovering, I thanked him for his grace and consideration. Some 5 minutes later, Elderly Gentleman B made towards that exact seat in front of me – he appeared to be a friend of A’s. A told B that if B sat there, my view would get affected and could he not find another seat? A went on to say that he himself had moved as a result. I thought I was dreaming.
The concert was nice. But these incidents made my day – random acts of kindness by ordinary folk to more ordinary, complete strangers – with no vested interests, no quid pro quo. Goodness abounds everywhere. Everyday.
