One of those days..

A few years back I used to work in a MNC. Most of the days I would take my car to office which was a good 20 KMs away from my house. On this day, as on days when I would have some problem with my car, I took an auto.

Its generally a little difficult to get an auto because of the long distance or since the auto driver would get some more greedy and ask a 20-50 Rs extra to the already huge sum that it would anyway take. So I had been waiting for around 10 minutes - stopping and haggling with the auto rickshaws- but with no luck.

After a while, I saw an auto coming from a distance and I stopped it - yet another time. As the auto came nearer, I was disappointed though- since I could see a little 5-6 year old girl, in her school uniform, hair all neatly combed into to two long pony tails, holding a small bag and a water bottle on her hand, tiny black shoes all buckled up, sitting all alone on the back seat of the auto. Even though I was late, and disappointed that the rickshaw was occupied, the sight of this cute little girl all ready for school, couldn’t stop the small smile on my face.

Coming out of the daze of the beautiful sight, I looked at the driver and said - Sorry, I thought the auto was available..!

To my surprise, the driver, looks at me kindly and says eagerly - if you don’t mind a small diversion of about a KM that I need to take, to drop this girl to the school, the auto is available.

That was a pleasant surprise and a relief and I hop into the rickshaw. The driver seemed to be in his early thirties and looked smart, well dressed in his rickshaw driver uniform and was a pleasant sight himself. I enjoyed the 1 KM ride with the little girl, watching her innocent curious eyes and very innocent face.

After a while, the driver stopped his auto in front of a highly reputed school in the locality. The driver got down from his seat and helped the little girl out of the auto. He helped the girl with her bag.

The next sight surprised me though. He took a comb out from his pocket - combed the slightly ruffled hair of this girl and gave her some change. The girl gave him a gentle peck on his cheeks and rushed inside the school.

To my surprise, I realized that it was her father who stood and watched her, biding her good bye.

This auto driver with a very meager income from his auto driving was sending his daughter to one of the best schools in the locality!

I was moved and did not know what to think or say. The rest of my journey was spent quietly, with me mulling over what I had witnessed a few minutes back.

Once I reached my destination, I opened my purse and got out the auto fare and without any hesitation added a twenty rupee extra to it and gave it to the auto driver.

The driver seemed surprised and looked at me with a questioning, curious look.

I smiled at him understandingly and told him with an embarrassed smile – That’s ok... Take it! Buy something for your daughter...!

And I walked away before the driver could see my eyes welling up with tears.

Read more...