………………….on my way to work, I crossed a stretch of road which is the hub of the city’s central grains and vegetable depot. Succinctly put, its called Market Yard. This is where every morning, trucks come in by the dozens and dump a zillion sacks of grains and vegetables. The market opens up at an insane hour, probably 4am in the morning. By 5am, there is a hoard of little red and blue tempos which crowd to Marketyard to buy their share of the goods. These tempos/handcarts then travel to the other parts of the city to sell those goods. This activity goes on till 12 in the noon. I guess after that the depot gates close down. At the time when I pass that way, the traffic outside the depot gates is at its peak. It is a tough task for all the bikes, cars and buses to outmaneuver the tempos/handcarts, which take up nearly the entire road.
Anyhow, so this morning, as I reached the large traffic signal (which unfortunately turned red just as I reached it), I saw that there was a slight commotion. Apparently, a tempo crossing the signal had dropped a sack of guavas right in the middle of the road. The driver of the tempo (tempo1) was oblivious of his loss till he reached the other side, where a couple of bystanders told him that they saw his sack falling off. Tempo1 driver was worried. He parked his vehicle and tried crossing the road, but the peak rush hour didn’t allow him the space. Meanwhile, as second tempo’s (tempo2) driver, standing at the signal, saw the plight of tempo1, he quickly hopped out, rushed to the sack and amidst great traffic, somehow managed to drag it back to his tempo. Tempo2 driver waved frantically at driver of tempo1, trying his best to signal that the sack was safe. Driver1 couldn’t see properly through the traffic. And tried once more to cross the road. Tempo2 driver then hauls the sack into his vehicle, drives across the road to tempo1 driver and hands over the sack. Tempo1 driver’s face is flush with relief. Tempo2 driver gets back into vehicle, makes a U-turn and drives off in another direction.
All this happened in the few minutes it took for my signal to turn green, but it was an inspiring lesson on good-ness. On being helpful and kind. Tempo2 driver went out of his way to make sure that tempo1 driver’s sack was unharmed and was handed over to him. Its not everyday we see selfless acts of kindness, specially in cities where everyone is too rushed to help out others. Reminded me of an instance long time back, Bro was driving me to a college for a written test. It started raining and I was clutching at my folder of certificates, trying my best to prevent them getting wet. Somehow, at one point, the folder slipped out of my hand and fell on the road. I yelled at Bro to stop the bike, which he did, but a few meters ahead. I frantically signaled people coming my way to not drive over the folder. Many drove around it. But one particular chap, who was far off and had seen me, drove right over my folder and was nasty enough to give a smug look while doing it. I stood there, too shocked for words, but Bro’s yelling brought me back to my senses. I picked up the now squelchy folder and walked back to Bro. The certificates were now muddy and wet. The only sensible thing to do was to dry them after going home. I just prayed the college did not require us to submit any docs that day. Luckily, they didn’t.
But the point is, the incident is imprinted in my mind. No one really stopped to help me that day. One person was rude enough to cause more trouble. it was enough to make me cynical for the rest of my life!
The incident today gave me a warm feeling š
Kindness is not dead yet. There are still plenty of people who do their share of good deeds a day.
And all is well with the world š
That tempo driver was amazing…
and I cant believe someone did that to you..how so so rude is that!!! Damn the guy!
The guy who drove over my folder wasn’t just rude, he was the most unkind person ever!! I’m sure he was the class bully as a kid and a wife today š
oh that was bad of that fellow to drive on the folder.. thank god that u didnt face prob that day..
goodness is still there.. rarely found now a days.. š¦
It is indeed arre, but the few instances, when you do get to see it, it is rather heart-warming š
Kudos to the Tempo Driver 2…and yuck @ that boy š¦ this only goes to show that there are people and then there are people š
There certainly are š
the whole time i was reading this post i was thinking … other people on the road will smash the fruit.. or steal it.. or the tempo2 driver would pick up the sack n run off… gosh… we people… have all kinds of fears against others… š¦
good to read this post…
You know what Sheets, I was thinking the same š
When tempo2 driver hauled the sack into his vehicle, I was 100% sure he was planning to drive away with it.
Just goes to show how cynical we’ve become, easily accepting the worst in a situation š¦