...For humanity it seems.
Came across this incident while driving back from work today, and it really put a smile on my face throughout the journey. Here's what happened -
As I carefully turned my car onto CST Road (Mumbai), my colleague and I saw a man running on the street, as if being chased by someone. Until we realized that he was the one engaged in the chasing activity -- trying to catch the BEST bus so that he wouldn't have to wait for 20 minutes to catch the next one (those somewhat familiar with life in Mumbai, will probably empathize). But of course, the bus was a lot faster and he missed it.
And that's where came in our good samaritan. He was riding a bike, and he had probably seen this man's struggle for quite a distance. As soon as he realized that the bus had departed for the next stop, he drove next to this man and asked him to hop on, and after that he took upon himself to ensure that he reaches the next bus stop before the bus itself (which, those somewhat familiar with life in India, will realize is fairly easy).
I was following the biker, partly out of compulsion (read traffic), and partly out of curiosity. Once the biker reached the next bus stop, I saw that he actually stopped for a while, as the bus rolled in, and our man safely jumped aboard. I took the extreme liberty (and dangerous, given the dynamic traffic conditions in Mumbai) of actually concentrating at the expressions of "Thank you" and "You're welcome" being exchanged as both these gentlemen moved on in their respective vehicles.
"There is hope", I mentioned to my colleague, and we both smiled and thanked God that all is still not lost. ARK (Acts of Random Kindness) still exist, even in a world infested with parasites such as kalmadi, radia, raja, and others who can be summed up as "a group of anonymous, Latin American meat-packing glitterati" (from Fletcher Memorial Home, Roger Waters).
If a stranger on a bike can make someone's evening, what stops the rest of the world from being nice to at least the people that they know, are related to, and supposedly love?
