A MAN WHO WAS RUNNING LATE

                                  A MAN WHO WAS RUNNING LATE…

        The alarm went off , again, in his cell phone and for the third time, in a condition of semi-consciousness, he put it off in the snooze mode thinking just five more minutes of sleep. And so began another day in the life of an Indian, well just not any other day.

        Few minutes later, he was hurrying for his office; having his breakfast on one hand and a comb on the other with which he briskly brushed off his hair. Running late, he said to himself; “Shouldn’t have stayed up so late for the match; and as it is, it was not even worth it.”

          He then ran downstairs, started his bike and was happy that he was finally on his way. He was already forty-five minutes late and was thinking of a good excuse when he realized that one of the bike’s tyres is punctured. He stopped his bike to look around. It was a very busy yet a very lonely road. The vehicles rushed across the road and even as hundreds passed this unfortunate biker, none had the time to stop and help. All of them were also running late as he was.

          He started walking along the disheveled footpath in search of a mechanic. He took out a gum from his pocket, tore the wrapper apart and casually threw it on to the already messed up roadside. His eyes then caught a hoarding that read “KEEP YOUR CITY CLEAN.” He yelled frantically “Now stop making me feel guilty, I am in the middle of nowhere with the tyre flat, I am too frustrated to care about cleanliness right now.” 

          His cell rang; the ring tone was melodious and cheerful and calmed his senses for a second, which was disrupted when he saw who the caller, was. He decided never to have such a positive tune for a negative person like his boss from now on. It can be such a horrendous combination. He took up his boss’ call thinking,” the timing couldn’t have been better.” He said “Sir, I am stuck with a punctured tyre and I don’t think I will ever be able to find a mechanic here. The boss then reminded him that his tyre was punctured just last week. And like a flash of lightning, it struck him; “India v/s Sri Lanka “. He said that “To be honest, Sir, that day it was India v/s Sri Lanka cricket match; I am telling the truth today”. The boss then provided him with another piece of information which was not at all new to him; that last night it was ‘ India v/s West Indies’ and then asked him to come to the office in an hour or send his resignation letter by post.

            He always defended his enthusiasm for cricket with the patriotism he holds for his country. In a country, today, where
Patriotism is directly proportional to the amount of support one lends to the beloved cricket team, he would be given the honor of being called one of the biggest patriot and also could get a well deserved award for it too.

            He then started to walk again or rather dragged his feet somehow. Not knowing where exactly to go, he gazed around in a very confused manner and looked like someone has just asked him to square a seven digit number mentally. He then finally approached a tea stall. The stall was very modest looking, made of rusty weather beaten tin sheets. But that was all he needed. At least now there was someone who could direct him the way.  Someone, who could help him in this devastating situation.  He asked the owner if there was any mechanic to be found nearby.  He was told that a mechanic could be arranged and so he decided to have a cup of tea in the meantime.

        A twelve –thirteen year old boy in dirty ragged clothes served him with a cup of hot tea in a small cup made out of terracotta. He asked how much he needs to pay for the tea. He gave him the exact change and then the young boy went and started heating the kettle again. For one moment he wondered if he could do something for him. He remembered reading in the newspapers recently that child labor has been banned and wanted to take the owner to task about this. But then he realized that the owner was the sole person who could prevent him to become a jobless person. So as every other human being, he decided to put his needs first and think about his ethics later. “Sometimes it is important to have flexible principles, so that at the need of the hour you may not feel that guilty about violating it”, he thought.

            He continued to be engrossed in his thoughts as he had another sip of tea, “my day would come and then I would change the world, but today; today is different, today is real. There are so many problems queued up in a decent line which I need to attend to and the first one in this line is how to get to his office in less than an hour”.

” It is taking forever. Where is he? Where the hell is the mechanic?” But he could find no one to yell at, no one to ease off his frustration on. The only one present there was the young boy whom he thought is suffering through a lot of more problems than he is.
The only difference is his problem needs urgent treatment, the boy’s problems have become a part of his life and it can well, wait.

          It was then when an old man with grey uncombed hair and shabby beard aging around sixty-five –seventy came and sat next to him. He inquired “You look upset my son. What is the matter? Is there anyway I can help you?

      “Help”, he thought “Wonder in what way he could help me. He himself looks beyond help.” But anyways, he still wanted to unburden himself and without knowing why he thought this stranger could be the perfect person to do so.

      He started his story and unfolded every incident that led him here. The old was a patient listener and finally when the young lad’s story and all the complaining was over, he just gave a faint smile and asked,”Why did you say you were helpless?”
“Did you not listen to the whole story? I will be very soon an unemployed person, come on, I have a family to support. What will I do?” he replied angrily

The old man was still unruffled by the whole situation. “Well, stop panicking first, I would just ask you one thing. When was the last time according to your memory, you helped someone?”
“Could we concentrate on my problem now, we can think about the ‘helping others’ part maybe later.”

“I think your answer lies in your own question. There is no one to help you now because you decided you would be helping others when you are finished with your own problems, so let it be with others. Either wait for the others to finish off with their own list of problems or don’t make others wait for your list to finish.”
“Look I can get this philosophy lecture sometime later. Can you please help me out here?”

“No, there is no way I can help you get to your office.”
“Then why did you ever offer help and waste so much of time , you must realize it is serious, it’s my life and career we are talking about, if I don’t get a mechanic how will I ever reach my office.”
The old man calmly said “I never said I can’t help you, the only thing I said is that I can’t do anything to make you reach your office in less than half an hour.”
“What do you mean by that? You are really getting on my nerves. I am in a horrible mood and the only thing which is keeping me cool is the age difference between us.”
“I am here to help you my son. I followed you here from the place you were shouting like crazy over a hoarding. You see a couple of years back I painted it and never saw anyone even having a look at it.
When I saw you getting so affected by it, I wondered, a person to whom a hoarding could make such a difference, what is his conscience doing. It certainly has to be stronger than that hoarding. So I followed you to this stall. And here, when I saw you staring at that little boy I thought my work has been done. But I realized my misconception and thought that I need to help you to help others.”
        Their conversation was interrupted by a phone call. He hesitated for a second and then received the call. It was his boss. The boss screamed from the other side of the phone,” so you have decided not to come, look, I will give you the benefit of doubt, anyways, and did you find a mechanic?”

“Sir, I don’t know about the bike, but my life certainly got fixed, I got the best mechanic around, and sir, I won’t be able to make it to the office today, gotta go”

“What the hell are you talking about?” said the boss not getting a word that his suddenly turned philosopher subordinate had to say
“Sir you would know when someone stops for you” and so he hung up the phone.
He then walked back to his bike, with the old man and the young boy.
At the end of the day, a young lady stood in the dark beside her broken car, looking at the very busy yet a very lonely road. The vehicles rushed across the road and even as hundreds passed this lady, one biker with a young lean kid dressed in fresh clothes stopped and asked, “You look upset, young lady. What is the matter? Is there anyway I can help you?”
One stopped, 99, 99, 99,998 Indians to go.