Milk of human kindness still flows

Sumit Paul

THERE’S a very old and time-honoured adage that one mustn’t change one’s doctor, tailor and barber. I too have a regular barber who gives me a perfect haircut every time. Recently, I’d gone to his shop after a rather long time. But that day, only his younger brother was there. Since I’d been putting off my haircut for a while, I thought that I shouldn’t wait for my barber, who was out of town. On being asked, the fellow agreed to do the needful. He quickly gave me a haircut, but it made my visage look ridiculous.

A few days later, I again went to the shop and met my regular barber. I told him how his brother had messed things up. Then and there, he rebuked his sibling and offered to give me a haircut. Later, when I wanted to pay him Rs 100 for his work, he flatly refused and said that the satisfaction of customers was his prime objective, not money.

It is because of such people that our faith in human goodness remains intact. And these seemingly ordinary people often teach us vital lessons of life. A poor Muslim woman at Badaun in Uttar Pradesh once gave me money when I had nothing on my person. She also fed me at her place. Goodness resides in all hearts and it’s invariably reciprocal. If you help someone in any way, some person at some point of time will unexpectedly help you. Call it nature’s inexorable law or something uncanny — it happens. What goes around comes around is an axiomatic truth.

Years ago, I got a call from my friend at Aurangabad that someone was in dire need of O-negative blood. I rushed to the hospital and donated blood as mine was O-negative. When I was diagnosed with a rare blood-related ailment a few years ago, the person I had donated blood to got to know about it and helped me immensely. Recently, when I was down with Covid and hospitalised, a doctor friend of mine came from Mumbai to be with me till I recovered fully. All these gestures of goodness involve no financial or pecuniary concerns.

In this age of materialism and selfish interests, there are people who help you without expecting anything in return. They need no name, fame or money. Their unconditional gestures strengthen your faith in humankind and give you assurance that there’s still a sliver of hope and all’s not lost.

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