Sometimes some people touch our hearts in a very special way. Some actions of some persons can be just a flicking moment to them. But to us it may be a memorable one for lifetime.
It was a usual busy day and I was off to office. The route was regular. The traffic was less. And the driver sped up. Just as it is in several places in India, the road had several crows and pigeons searching to make their tummy full. And that day too the road had a crow sitting in the midst of the lane picking up some food. My driver didn’t bother and I too didn’t. It’s very usual to see them like that and as they see some vehicle approaching their reflexes act so fast and we can see them fly high the next moment. But that day, I didn’t see it fly high, I heard it to just ‘pouf’ under my car’s wheel. A ‘pouf’. That’s it. I had killed it. I didn’t do it consciously, but it still bothers me from the back of my mind. I was hurt. Really deeply hurt. I made that bird that could have soared high in the sky to die flat under my car. I couldn’t digest that I was, by chance, though not deliberately, involved in the killing. The guilt was all over me. I thought about it whole day inspite of the heavy work.
That evening my close friend, rather my very very very very close friend came to meet me. He looked into my eyes and listened to what ever I poured out of my heart as we sipped our cup of coffee at CCD. He looked deep into my eyes. He listened to every word I spoke. He didn’t interrupt me even a moment. I poured my heart out. I looked into his eyes and I overcame the overwhelming guilt. Finally when I stopped, he looked deeper into my eyes and he asked me to ask my mom to perform some spiritual remedy. It’s not exactly the solution. But he had given me the solution as I spoke. He listened – looking deep into my eyes.
Today, I still feel the guilt. But it doesn’t overwhelm me anymore.
Recently 2 days back, one fine morning, I woke up, got ready and stepped out of my apartment into the road only to come face to face with a… a… a… Monkey. It’s strange to see it there. Though it was not a cosmopolitan concrete jungle, it was busy residential area of a well-to-do town. Not a single apartment was less than 5 floors high. And to witness a monkey in the centre of the road was strange. Or atleast I thought so. I jumped back into my apartment gate and saw it pass-by walking proudly in the centre of the road. With an absolute residential area where any vehicle cannot go beyond 15 kmph, it was not at a risk of being killed in traffic. But it had another issue. It was pregnant. I was worried about it. I thought it was lost that too pregnant. I wanted to do something. I was new to the town and didn’t know much about the place and had no idea of any animal organization there. It’s a small town and didn’t have a zoo too. I wanted to find someone to take care of it and take it back to wilderness.
The first person to strike my mind was a colleague. He was not even a friend. He was just a colleague. He has been in the town since childhood and knows the place well. Quite a knowledgeable person. An outgoing person. I do not know him personally though. But he was the person who I felt I could disturb early in the morning. Not an odd hour, it was 7.30 am. Not an even hour as well. I wouldn’t call my boss at that hour, to find a source to help that poor animal. This colleague picked the call and he informed that the town had no organization like that. The only options left were I could ask the police or govt hospital staff to help. I enquired the locals about it and they said it’s not a very strange phenomenon as I had assumed. But generally they come as 2 or 3 or 4, not as single like this one, and like once in 4-6 months. I pacified myself as it slipped out of sight.
That day evening at office, I had some work with him. After that I told him about the monkey. I said “Its not strange”, “It comes once in 4-6 months”, “Generally in groups”, “I was worried coz it was pregnant”, “Blah… blah… blah…”. I went on. As I kept telling, rather ‘Blah’ing, he kept listening. Did not interrupt even a moment. And kept looking deep into the eyes. Listened to my whole blah and finally said “Don’t worry. There are several groves nearby and it would have settled. Being a regular visitor, it wouldn’t have lost its path”. Of course, I didn’t worry ever since the locals said that they were regular visitors, since the morning. But then, he listened, making eye contact and he listened early in the morning when I disturbed his sleep.
For both my dearest friend and my colleague, to them it was my 2 minutes of nonchalant words, sentences, my life story. They said something at the end of my continuous speech. But what they said didn’t matter. But they gave a solution. They listened! They looked deep into my eyes when I spoke!!!
