Recently I took some old stuff to a junk dealer. Unlike so many others of his ilk to whom I have sold newspapers and old items in the past, he emptied every box and bit by bit segregated and examined the stuff before weighing it on the electronic machine. Though my patience was running out, I was impressed by his. Finally he calculated and gave me a 500 and two 100 rupee notes. He did not have the exact change, Rs.666 and neither did I have the change to be returned to him.
“No problem akka, you can give me the balance later,” he surprised me because I was a first-timer to his shop.
Is it his goodwill or he has already cheated me with the weight and rate of the items sold that Rs.34 did not matter, I wondered. When I returned to his shop much later in the evening, he was offering food to an old and shabbily dressed woman. I must admit I have often seen this woman begging on the road and there have been occasions when I have given her some money or irritated by her repeated appearance and high-decibel shouts even avoided her.
The junk dealer gave twenty rupees to the woman from the money I gave him and told me she is an aimless wanderer. She apparently walks miles and every alternate day comes to his shop. Some say her family deserted her and some say after her husband and son died in an accident, she lost her mental balance.
“My wife packs me few extra idlis or dosas and it costs nothing if I am able to share it,” the junk dealer smiled. “It is always a nice feeling to help or make others happy,” he added.
Yes, his simple act of kindness adds more meaning to life and trust in the decency of people. This fortnightly column, Making a Difference (MAD), has been bringing to light several such seemingly insignificant decisions and acts of faceless people. MAD was started in the winter of 2008. In these last six years, I have met and written about over 150 beautiful people who keep the world going.
Some of them are uneducated, some without enough money, some have given up their comfort and some work extra hours to reach out to the needy. They all are large-hearted individuals and driven by passion walk that extra mile. It is such people who make you realise that you don’t have to be the best or rich for doing a good deed. There is no dearth of opportunities to help others. And there is no shortage of people with the ability to work and serve either. It is only our thinking that restrains us from reaching out to touch and illuminate the lives of others. We need new year resolutions only to help ourselves, not others.
Month after month, committed individuals have shared their stories and dreams with me and many others have offered monetary or other help after reading their stories. There have been those who continuously provided me with information about the good-doers. I salute all these invisible and unsung people who go beyond the realm of their personal interest and voluntarily help those who cannot return the favour. It is they who prove that love and kindness are never wasted.
It is the spirit and the inspiration to make a difference that mobilises us and streamlines our energy to surge ahead with a sense of purpose. Each of us needs to belong and to be loved and it is completely within our grasp to make a difference in other’s lives because we do not have to do incredible things. Rather, we do what we can with what we have -- our time, ideas, methods, service, skills and abilities besides a caring mind, a loving heart and the willingness to spread some sunshine around.
It is entirely up to us whether we want our life to make a difference and what difference we want our life to make.
As American essayist and poet Ralph Waldo Emerson said: "To win the respect and affection of people, to find the best in others, to leave the world a little better, to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is success."
Helping others and contributing to their happiness is an important component of our own success. I know there are still many more hands in our Temple Town that untiringly carry love and hope to people around. Watch out for them in this space in the new year too! (Making a difference is a fortnightly column about ordinary people and events that leave an extraordinary impact on us. E-mail soma.basu@thehindu.co.in to tell her about someone you know who is making a difference)
