IT IS SO COLD OUTSIDE!

It is very, very cold, here, in Mumbai! Delhi is too much, I know. And Himachal Pradesh and Punjab is unbearable. Kashmir is beyond my imagination! 

For us, this much is just bearable. In the mornings, we find it particularly chilly… A cup of hot, hot tea or coffee! Wow!

Every morning, our doodhwala boy rings our bell around 6.30 or so. Yesterday, when I opened the door, I instantly said, “How do you manage? Wear something thick.” 

“Okay sir; thank you sir,” he said with a very broad smile. 

Maybe, no one must have said such things to him! I hope, I not trying to play a Noble Man here. I did feel what I had said, that early morning when it was too cold outside, made the doodhwala boy happy.

I had an old sweater, which I was not using for years. I kept it ready last night to give him when he would ring our bell this morning. So, there was a pleasant surprise to him when I handed over that sweater… The smile was ever broader!

In the same way, the middle-aged lady, who comes to our place do prepare roties every morning, feels very happy when I offer a cup of hot tea to her every morning. It is not so cold only for me… It is for this slogging woman, too!

Just when I reach my Society gate, around 7.45 or 8 in the morning, I see those security men, two of them very old, who have still not finished their night duty…all in the open! I am the Chairman of the Society. The least I can do for them is: “Kaka, how did the night go?”

And, the worst would be: throwing my weight around them… because I am the Chairman of the Society!

It is so cold for these poor watchmen too… and more so, because, they have spent the night right under the chilly skies!

It doesn’t cost us to do these spontaneous acts.

Many do for their own reasons. 

I do it for my own. 

Though I have not much analyzed 

why I do what I do -

I think, 
empathy and compassion 
 are very dear personal-values to me. 

And, others do, in their own little way… 

for their own reasons.

Some give biscuits for the street-dogs every morning on their way to the offices. Wow! Look at the happiness of those dogs! Their tails tell you how happy they are!

Some offer grains to the pigeons every morning… And look how many pigeons– hundreds of them –  come, know not from where - to receive their fill. And, look at their happiness…  When they flutter and go back, you can feel that!

Some go, late at night – almost every night – to handover the left-over food to those who sleep on the roads. And these unfortunate ones do tell “Thank you, sir… Good night”!

And, then, after taking that ‘dinner’… they go back to sleep on those roads… and those dividers!

It is so cold outside! 

GERALD D’CUNHA

THANKS:
The image used in this Post is by Ashok Ahuja. He is a professional Photographer and a very dear friend of mine. He is also one of the founder members of The Dawn Club, and, along with his gifted-artist wife, Sudha, has been helping me, and the Club, right from its inception.