The Helping Hand.
It was a hot and humid Friday evening in the dream city, Mumbai .I peeped out of the office window only to see if it was raining. I could see the people rushing towards the station. The dazzling Friday evening was waiting for me….waiting to get me out of the office. The hustle and bustle out of the four walls of the office was certainly exciting. The dark inviting sky, the cool air smelled wonderful and swaying trees and little rain drops on them added to the beauty. "I had few more things to wrap up before I head back, I thought to myself." The monsoon season is awakening the nature from deep sleep. The rainfall started pretty soon and I could smell the mud and feel the fresh air. After a few e mails, phone calls and pending files I packed up for the day not to mention few cups of coffee. Packing up my work for the day I sighed” Finally time to go.” I had longed enough today to go out of the office to be a part of the wonderful weather outside.
I left my office around 7.15 pm. It was still drizzling. I walked up to the railway station. On the way, I also called my roomies and let them know that I would be home in about an hour. We had a diner plan at new restaurant near our house .I was standing at the moving train door, my usual place. The wind was blowing my hair and I could feel the soft drops of rain on my face. Nothing can dampen my mood for this evening I thought to myself smiling. While I was mentally creating a to do list for the weekend, I realised I had an important phone call to make that I had totally forgotten about. Soon it started getting crowded so I was forced to take up seat in the train. As soon as we reached the station, the ladies in the compartment were in great hurry to get out of the train. Being only 2 months old, I was learning this art of getting in and out of the train without pushing and stamping. I waited for the rush to slow down but pretty soon the new passengers crawled up and worst of the nightmares came true.My laptop bag got stuck in between while I was at front. It got stuck between the passengers coming in and the passengers going out. The belt got entangled and I was being cursed by the fellow passengers. As if this was not enough, the lady next to me started screaming in my ear as I had accidently stamped on her foot while trying to rescue my laptop bag. With great effort I pulled my bag out and fell down at the station .I got up immediately and somehow managed to get out of the crowd. This was very first experience for me at that time .I was so angry with lady that screamed in my ear. She kept staring at me Pata nahi kaha kaha se ate hai log kind of look. Her screaming and yelling had drawn many stares towards me. I was a naïve girl at that time. I was living out of my own house and city first time in 21 years. I was so upset that I almost had big tears at the edge of my eyes waiting for them to pour. I somehow gathered myself, dusted my trousers and looked at bruised elbow. A fierce volcano was boiling within me waiting to explode anytime.
I stepped outside the station only then did I realize the intensity of the downpour .It had started raining heavily. Within a quarter of a block, I was completely wet. I had three more blocks to cover so I decided to take a short cut which reduced a distance of one block. The incident in the train had shaken me so much that I was frightened. I had thoughts of going back home, and I could see my dreams being washed away by the rain. And once again I had not done enough, I thought .I was doing it all wrong. Suddenly, I felt very lonely. Soon homesickness followed and big tears came rolling down the cheeks. About a block from my building I saw a man coming up to the street carrying an umbrella. He saw me and hurried over to help. The tears had made my vision blurred.
“Looks like you are getting wet. Would you like to get under the umbrella?” he said. His soft compelling voice melted me. He was wearing simple black t shirt and a short. He had soft brown straight hair, black eyes and was wearing a red Ferrari cap.
I took up the offer. He extended the red umbrella and we walked in an awkward silence at first. After about five minutes of walk I was standing below my building. “Thank you so much” I said. To which he said “Please keep the umbrella. Please extend it to someone who needs it just like what I did for you today. It has come to me in similar way.” Our eyes did the rest of the silent talk needed.
It has been more than twenty years now but I still think of this incident when I am stressed. The walk was short the words very few and the time was less. But this stranger had transformed my despair and rescued me. I did extend the red umbrella later to old granny who needed it. Since this incident I have extended many more such umbrellas. It has given me immense pleasure to do so. Over the years, the kindness has come back to me in multiple ways.
One red umbrella is still waiting to be extended.
-Sanchita Satalkar