Some days just make you love life.
Today, I found a poor injured pigeon on the roof and unable to see it dying so agonisingly, I got my friend to put it in a carton box, and I took it to an NGO for treatment.
The auto I took was driven by a kind-looking man in his late fifties. He very sweetly offered to wait for me while I took the pigeon to the clinic (who now is getting treated in Wildlife SOS). When I reboarded the auto, the driver asked me what had been in the carton, and I told him the whole story.
After driving for around 3kms, the auto driver suddenly slowed down and turned back. I was shocked to see tears in his eyes. He said that he was happy today to meet someone who cared so much about a small life like that of a pigeon, when humans can’t even spare five minutes to help a fellow-being. But what he told me next was one of the most inspiring stories I’ve heard in my life-
“I’m sorry I got so emotional,” he said. “Actually, I myself was in a similar situation two years back. I live alone in Delhi, and two years back I had a stroke. I lay helplessly on the floor not knowing what to do. Ultimately, it was my kind house-owners who took me to the hospital and got me treated. So I know exactly how that pigeon felt.”
He then went on to tell me his story. He had a small business of forty tailors, and one day, he got cheated and he went bankrupt. Due to deteriorating financial circumstances, he had to put his two private school kids in a dilapidated government school. As a reaction to this, his wife took the children with her to her maternal house and after three years of separation, got their marriage annulled. The poor man also lost custody of his kids and it has been 12 years that he hasn’t seen them. A friend of his took their photo and a framed version of the same is the only comfort of family he has now.
Although his story is unfortunate, there was something so positive that he said that he is a hero for me. When I pointed out that his kids were no longer under 18 (B.Tech son is working in Mumbai and Daughter is in Muthoot Finance) and he could contact them as guardianship laws no longer apply to them now, he replied,
“Their mother doesn’t want me to meet them. And I understand. I still have my job, but she has nothing but the children. She is afraid that if I meet them, she will lose their love. It is OK. Perhaps she did the right thing. I have suffered but at least my children have done well in life, and that is what every parent wants. But yes, I have collected some property in Delhi by working hard. When I die, I will leave them my property. At least then they’ll know that they’re father was not such a bad man after all. They will know that their father lived only for them.”
So today was a miraculous morning. For I went to save a life, but I met a man who showed me how to live life by embodying two things in life- how to forgive, and how to love unconditionally…
P.S.: I now hold the world record of being undercharged by an auto-driver. He would not take more than half the fare in the meter! 🙂