kindness is infectious!

Life Vest Inside - Kindness Boomerang - "One Day" - YouTube

I am sure a lot of us have seen this video where they show how a small act of kindness turns into a chain reaction & how that person who was helped by someone stranger then goes on to help someone else and then that person helps someone else and so on. This is pretty well made and feel good video that helps you restore your faith in humanity.

Most of us would watch the video, appreciate it, and then leave it there. Thinking that perhaps these kind of things don't happen in real life.

But one such incident happened with me a few days back. It is kind of a long story, so sit back and relax.

Incident One (the little act of kindness), One fine night I was riding back home from work late at night due to magazine issue closing. It was already past midnight and the roads were empty except those trucks trying to cross Delhi. I was riding my Pulsar 220 Fi from the Sarai Kale khan on the NH24 towards Mayur Vihar/Ghaziabad. I took the Akshardham flyover and noticed a couple a little ahead standing on the flyover with their bike parked nearby. it was an unusual sight as you wouldn't expect anybody to stand there at that point in time. I slowed down a little and watched them as I moved ahead. It was apparent that there was some problem with the bike; however, being so late at night I wasn't really keen on doing anything there. However, as I crossed them I noticed that there was a little girl (probably 4-5 years old) with them. The father in me immediately stopped me there a little ahead of them. I stood there for a few seconds trying to understand what's wrong. After confirming that there was nothing fishy and that the couple really needed help. I went to these guys and found that the rear tyre of their bike (HH Splendour) had a puncture. The little girl was frightened and was crying inconsolably. The guy in his mid to early 40s had no idea what to do about it.

I told the guy that the only way to ride this bike right now would be to sit on the bike's tank and take the load off the rear tyre and ride it slowly to the nearest mechanic or parking place. I also offered him that since he won't be able to ride the bike with his wife and the kid, that they can sit on my bike while I follow him to the mechanic's place. However, he wasn't comfortable in letting her wife (also in her early-mid 40s/kid sit with me as pillion (quite understandably) and tried to ride the bike sitting on the tank but with his family as pillion. I stood there watching them. He rode for 10 meters or so before finally coming to an halt as it just wasn't possible to ride the bike on a flat tyre with the pillions.

Then, albeit hesitatingly, I offered him to ride his bike to the mechanic while he rides my bike with his wife/kid as a pillion. With a bit of hesitation and surprise, he accepted my offer. They followed me while enjoyed my ride on the splendor's tank. We rode this way for about a kilometer when we luckily found a puncture mechanic right near the Mother Dairy Red light. I left his bike there and rode my bike back home. The couple of course said thanks.


...and it comes back: Now fast forward to about a month or so. I was again ride back home on my bike, same old Pulsar 220 Fi, which was in pretty bad shape (partly due to my neglect). It was around 8:30 p.m. and as soon as I hit the Nizamuddin bridge, my bike's engine died suddenly. It became lifeless. Clearly there was some issue with the bike's electricals as there was no current in the circuits at all. Helpless, I pushed the bike for a few hundred meters to get off from the bridge as there was heavy traffic there. Once I crossed it, I got the bike on the cycle lane and could sense the smell of burning wire. I thought that the relay had gone kaput. There was no way out now but to push the bike to the nearest mechanic/parking spot, which was at least a couple of kilometers ahead.

So as I was pushing the bike, huffing and puffing, completely drenched in sweat (month of September, Delhi was at its humid best), I saw this guy on a Discover pulled up next to me and asked what happened. That guy mind you was with his wife and less than a year old kid. He was a younger chap, probably from some village near Delhi/NCR as apparent by his clothes/way of talking. He asked me if I rant out of fuel, etc. I told him that there's some problem with the bike's electricals. He insisted on checking the bike himself and see if he could help. We both opened up the bike and found a lot of half/completely burnt wires behind/aboved the battery. Clearly there was a short circuit which had damaged the bike's wiring harness. Tried to do some jugaad that didn't work either. That guy said sorry that he couldn't help. I thanked him wholeheartedly that at least he tried to help me genuinely.

This ^^^ place was hardly a couple of hundred meters behind that spot where I had offered my bike to that couple in distress.

Anyways, I continued pushing the bike ahead and when I was right near that spot ^^^^^ one guy riding another Discover came to me and inquired about what happened, etc. He then offered to push the bike from behind /tow it to the nearest mechanic. I just couldn't say no. We finally towed the bike till the same mechanic's shop who had fixed the puncture the other day. I left the bike there and took the next bus to home. The bike had to be left there as it wasn't possible to fix it then.

While coming back I couldn't help but smile and wonder that there's surely someone sitting up there watching us, and that he doesn't shy away from giving it back to those who he thinks deserve. I didn't help that couple other day expecting any returns for it. But those 2 peoples (who offered me help) were like God's way of compensating me for the little effort I had put in some time ago helping someone else.

That incident once again reaffirmed my faith in the saying that we shouldn't hesitate from helping those who are in need. Sooner or later, those little acts of kindness will come back to you.