The Midway

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I've always wondered what could be that one thing that one could do towards well being of others without letting go off one's own interests. That may sound a bit anti-noble but that is what is true. There is a certain mentality which does not let a person go an extra mile against one's own direction. That is a kind of optimism ice always been searching, ironically on my own track. But that search of the midway ended in the summer of 2009 while I was in high school.

That day was just like any other day. I dressed up for school on my regular morning routine and left the house for the taxistand. I luckily found a taxi even before reaching the stand. When the taxi reached the stand, the driver got down to gather more passengers. A usual action done in the morning hours by the kind. I sat near the window, looking out and breathing the morning freshness. At that time, I saw something. Something that sent a chill down my spine and widened my eyes in shock.

I saw an old man in critical condition. He sat in a corner, coughing and vomiting badly. After few coughs, blood came from his mouth. He was some old man who needed immediate help. And by help I mean medical attention. I couldn't have got down as I was already ten minutes late for school. At that time missing school was the gravest mistake one could think of making. I began regretting but God did not want something bad to happen. He looks after all, the youngest and the oldest of his children.

The man was looking at the taxi. When the driver came and ignited the taxi, this man came up to the driver and said, "Can you drop me to this hospital son?"

A closer view of this man was even shocking and pitiful. His eyes were red with a tinge of blood and he was sweating badly.

"Five rupees", replied the rude taxi driver.
"Son, I'm talking of this hospital. This one at the end of the street. It's at a walking distance son. "
"Then you better start walking old man if you don't have the money. Don't play with my temper this morning. "

The old man looked at the driver with those red pitiful eyes. Just when the driver was about to move, a mouth full of beetle juice emptied itself and said, "you sit Babuji, I'll pay for you." He was some young fellow in old clothes. Maybe he was out to work, or to study. But that's not important. What's important is the lesson behind.

The lesson was that it's not necessary for one to get deep into the matters, do great things to get happiness, to be a hero. For everyone is not a hero. But we should do our bit and just walk away instead of ignoring. That small contribution can provide us with immense satisfaction. Those five rupees made that beetle man above the rest of us.

The old man looked at the beetle man with those red pitiful eyes that shed more appreciation than his words. The hospital reached much before I was expecting it to. The old man went to the hospital smiling at us. The beetle guy could have gotten down and helped the old man further. But that's that the midway is. The midway between "my" and "their" ways.


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