TO BE A RAINBOW IN SOMEONE'S CLOUD

 



“Try to be a rainbow in someone’s cloud.”

Maya Angelou

 

Some days ago, I was telling a group of underprivileged children how our random acts of kindness had ripple effect… “Kindness, always, spreads… It is contagious,” I explained to them in Hindi. Then, I encouraged them to share one or two acts of kindness either they had done towards others, or others had done towards them. Many stood up to share…

Our random acts of kindness, invariably, are not only done by us randomly, but also done by us towards random people. Often, they are done towards people who do not even deserve our kindness. I know, it is difficult to accommodate that view: “Why should we be kind to someone who doesn’t deserve our kindness?”

“A part of kindness consists in loving people more than they deserve,” says Joseph Joubert. Mother Teresa famously said, “If you judge people, you have no time to love them.”

Well, we aren’t talking, here, about the ‘big acts’ of kindness – the Mother Teresa’s kind … We do not have to be ‘living saints’ like her. We are, here, talking about simple, doable acts of kindness – the random ones, to random people. The underprivileged kids, who I was talking to, had many such stories to share… For, it’s possible for all us to just do them, just from our hearts.





After the session with these underprivileged kids, I was returning to my house in an autorickshaw. The diver was quite elderly and soft-spoken… It was dark. At one of the signals, when this auto driver tried to stop the auto, it mildly touched the auto in front which had already halted. The driver of that auto, seemed to be in his late forties, stormed out of his auto to check the damage… It was just a loud kiss. But, the driver started yelling and abusing my elderly auto driver, who tried to first convince the abusive auto driver saying, there was hardly any damage, then tried to convince him with a genuine ‘Sorry’. But, the angry auto driver wanted the ‘damages’ be paid by my auto driver. It was a busy traffic-signal… There was a family inside the other auto… People behind us were impatient and shouting… I did not want to involve, initially. But, soon, I found myself trying to persuade the angry auto driver…

“Are you going to pay the damages?” he asked me angrily, pulling off the keys of my auto driver…

I was getting angry, by now. But, I did not want more drama on the road. So, I instinctively asked the agitated auto driver, “How much are your damages?”

“Hundred,” he quipped.

I quickly stretched a hundred-rupee note…

He looked at my auto driver in disbelief as if to ask, “Shall I accept it?”

My auto driver nodded, with a slight guilt…

But, the anger and yelling hadn’t ended…

This time, I really felt like giving a piece of my mind… But, before I could do it, the family, which till now patiently witnessing the entire drama from inside, started doing the job that I wanted to do… “You got your money; then, why can’t you shut your mouth and just move… Bahut hua.”

“Kindness, always, spreads… It is contagious,” I had explained this, just a while before, to the underprivileged children. But, here was an agitated autowala, on whom my random act of kindness did not seem to have any effect…

But, it did seem to spread via the passengers inside his auto… “Shut your mouth and just move… Bahut hua.”

When I reached my destination, my elderly auto-driver was hesitating to take the fare (Rs. 75)… “Rehene doh, Sir,” he said, sincerely.

But, I pressed the fare into his hand…




It was all random… “A part of kindness consists in loving people more than they deserve,” I remembered the words of Joseph Joubert…

 

GERALD D’CUNHA

 

Pic’s: 1. FREEPIC  2. Pixabay

 

Video: Akimbo

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