Thursday, September 10, 2009

Amazing grace

I went to Hypercity today thinking I would pick up a couple of things. Went a bit berserk (vegetables! detergent! icecream!) and emerged with five not-so-light shopping bags.

"Can I take the cart upto level 1?" I asked a guy in uniform near the exit.

"Aapko ricksha lena hai.. chalo main chhod deta hoon," he replied.

We got into the lift, then out, I walked slightly ahead of him - no particular reason. But maybe unconsciously in memsaab mode.

I fiddled in my purse to find change. First I took out a five rupee coin. Then I thought nahin, I have shopped so much. Should give him at least 10 bucks.

He patiently waited for rick to come ahead, carefully arranged my bags and then I got in.

I said, "Thank you" and handed him the note.

He gave a really wide smile and shook his head,"No madam, yeh to maine dekha aapko.. to aa gaya saath mein.. insaaniyat ke naate."

That guy - I don't even know his name - left me humbled.

There are good people everywhere, practicing random acts of kindness. I was feeling a bit low today - he made my day!

May more insaans practice this insaaniyat ka naata. And make the world a more beautiful place.

41 comments:

  1. Meeting people like this reasserts my faith in the natural goodness of people..

    Luckily, I tend to come across such people once every few days!

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  2. True
    Such acts reaffirm our faith in basic human goodness

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  3. Touching to see such acts even amidst the hectic times of today!

    Sathej

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  4. Mumbai, despite all the hectic lives lived by its denizens, still houses a lot of Insaaniyat. I gues that's a part of what people call the 'Spirit' of that city.

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  5. Like your posts very much. They never fail to give the readers a different perspective and inspiration.


    Sanjay Uvach
    Corruption India

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  6. and it does for me too.. the happiness that the world has something atleast left of the insaaniat...

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  7. Yet another reason to live in this world and have hope that World is after all good, but we need a little patience(which lacks in the present generation(i am borrowing your line)).

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  8. We met someone like this some months back here in Gurgaon when our car got stuck in a ditch. This guy driving a delivery van stopped and helped us push the car out of the ditch and similarly, refused to take anything.

    Reasserts faith in humanity yes, but also leaves me wondering that even though we appreciate others doing this for us, how many of us would step and help out others in "random acts of kindness"?!

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  10. Truly nice gesture but what if you were a guy?

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  11. He probably just did it to smile, distribute one if he could i.e.
    Sad that people like him are very rare and not always are valued for we doubt the intention most of the time.

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  12. You have made a good point here. Every time one wonders whether insaaniyat is dead, there emerges a guy like this.

    I will share with you something thats happening in Hyderabad a lot now a days. Mobile thieves (don't know if I should call them thieves).

    Real Life Incident 1: My junior walks out of a restaurant and it talking on a phone. 2 people on a bike come and snatch the phone and flee on a bike.

    Incident 2: A woman is travelling in an auto. A biker from the other side attempts to snatch her bag.

    Incident 3: A woman is walking on the road with her kid. A biker tries to snatch her bag. Fails.

    Incident 4 (this happened with me): I am walking on the road and talking on the phone. 2 people on a bike come and snatch the phone and flee. I am left helpless. (That is why I hate the Idea campaign; Walk when you talk.

    Incident 5: A biker approaches a man and asks for his mobile. He says he has an urgent call to make. Takes the mobile and flees.

    Given that Hyd is becoming worse as time goes by, it needs more insaans like the one in your story.

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  13. Wow !!

    I hv observed that in-orbit mall has very well-mannered and well-trained staff .. But this honesty thing comes from inside - from ur soul ... this is so nice to hear .. There are many nice ppl around .. they may be outnumbered by bad people but still you will find random act of kindness every now and then ..

    I also strongly feel that I hv seen more honesty - more humbleness in mumbai than any other city in India .. That's why its spirit is always high ..

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  14. Most people are good but its the bad who are glorified. It migth sound a bit of a cliche but in typical Hindi Movie style - 'Insaniyat abhi Zinda Hai' :)

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  15. Anonymous2:25 PM

    i would like to ask u tht, wat made u feel low & wat did u learn frm this ??

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  16. awwww!!!! truly touching.

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  17. Good to know this exists... Hope people start doing these random acts of kindness and more importantly the people who benefited should post about them.

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  18. Rashmi, sincerely apologize for this.
    While it is heart warming to do this, what exactly did you post to enhance Insight on Indian youth?

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  19. whats the whole point?proves that we are racist stuff and that you underestimate people and virtues.that cements the fact that banias are into currency contentment and re compensation.write something worth the cost

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  20. whats the whole point?proves that we are racist stuff and that you underestimate people and virtues.that cements the fact that banias are into currency contentment and re compensation.write something worth the cost

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  21. Well, So true!
    Little act of humbleness, make one's day.
    May Luck shower on you!
    Cheer up!

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  22. Nice..one of the reason I love Hyper City

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  23. This is amazing. And i would call it a branding trick.

    If i were owner of a 'Hypercity', i would 'hire' ppl to do 'insaniyat ka nata' act. That would make the shoppers happy. And making the customer happy is every business' aim (and in turn make money)

    You have given a very nice idea!

    Are the business tycoons listening?

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  24. Ouch. There's cynical and there's way too cynical, no? :)

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  25. well rashmi, really touching. But,
    dont you think its an act of character(unfortunately alient to the so called educated class)?

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  26. :)..they are rare but not extinct!!

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  27. Wow!!! M touched!!! :)

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  28. Well I am traveling these days to US and Canada, you would have had to pay the guy a tip 10$ here and even then he would have made such a face as if you are the cheapest person he has ever come across.

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  29. So sweet of that guy!! May God bless him for his kindness.

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  30. Like silver linings in everyday clouds of life,such people make life soothing sometimes!

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  31. quite inspiring....reminds me of one such incident that i have witnessed once.i hope this inspires many..coz with basic Insanayat becoming becoming a rare act...its not far that human goodness will abolish and man will eventually become a mean machine.

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  32. This made my day! Yay! :)

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  33. If white and blakc represents good and bad respectively I personally belive every one is white only with some taint of blacks spots here and there

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  34. Had exactly the same experience at Big Bazaar in Gurgaon. I remember recording exactly the same feeling. There are good people everywhere. May God bless them and may he remind us to be kinder to people around us.

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  35. just a random instance, others would have asked for 50 bucks

    www.indiahype.com
    Indias microblog

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  36. how sweet. It's very seldom that one gets to meet these kinds of people...!

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  37. Its nice that you have written about him in the blog.

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  38. faced a similar situation in a basement parking in Big Bazaar Gurgaon. A parking attendant helped me carry my bags to my car, when i was struggling with multiple bags. I pretty rudely told him ... "Thank you .. dont help ... I wont give you any money"
    The guy just smiled, helped me with the bags and said "pasia hee sab kuch nahi hota"

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  39. @ Prashant Mehta,

    its not like a branding trick but at hypercity Customers' ease and convienece is the top most priority. yes these guys are trained this way to do so... i can vouch for this as i work at Hypercity:):)

    glad you ppl apprecitated it!!

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