Hope

"What did you tell her the last time you spoke to her?" I could hear Priya's husband asking Priya.

"Beats me.. I don't remember saying anything that could influence her to take such a quick decision to buy our product"

Priya was at my house to sell her special learning packages. The packages though good were extremely expensive and were not something that I would have normally bought. But something about Priya had touched me.

I will not forget that day.

We had just shifted back from the US and were still settling down. Some of our stuff had come to the Bangalore flat and we were expecting another shipment in a week. Our house was filled with unopened cartons lying around. The climate change and the excessive traffic was getting on to us. But the thing that we found most difficult was getting admission for our 13 year old daughter.

Even though Ria was getting called for the admission tests in all the good schools, she was finding it difficult to pass the exams because of the change in US and India syllabus. Since she was about to get into high school, it was really important for us that she got into a good institute.

That day yet another school informed us that Ria had not cleared the admission test. I was getting a little desperate and worried, when I heard my phone ring.

"Hi! your reference was given to me by Amit", the lady on the other side of the line who identified herself as Priya informed me. Amit was my brother who lived in Bangalore. "We sell some educational kits for teenagers. And Amit thought you would like it."

An educational kit was the last thing on my mind that day. And I told her so. I also told her that we had just relocated to Bangalore and it was more important for me that Ria got admission in a good school.

"Oh..! I am so sorry! Can you send me Ria's details? I would like to help," she said. We spent the next half an hour on the phone, talking about the various contacts that she had in the numerous schools.

From then on, she called me once a week to check on the progress of Ria's admission. 

I was surprised and touched. Priya's presence in my life, changed my mind from despair to hope. I did not know Priya before that call and I wondered why she went out of the way to help me.  With new found energy I continued applying for schools and eventually, Ria got into a school that could identify Ria's potential beyond the difference in  syllabus taught in the US and India schools. The school was also one of the best known schools in the city and very few children got admission to it. We all were ecstatic.

Earlier, I had also contacted the two schools that Priya had referred me to - though Ria did not get selected in those schools.

I had promised myself, that once Ria got into a good school, I would call Priya in for the demo of the product she had initially called me for. 

So as soon as Ria got in, I called Priya for a demo. The day Priya came in, I did not think much and told Priya that I would buy her product. My quick decision must have surprised Priya's husband. Which was why he asked her the question "What did you tell her the last time you spoke to her?"

But then for me, it was not about the product. It was about Priya. No money could ever buy the hope that Priya had placed in my heart that day.