Best Brothers.
Being a part of a Political Science class is fun. Especially when you have a huge number of ‘Arnab Goswamis’ in your class to counter attack each other. But that day was different. I vaguely remember what we were being taught but the lesson I got that day, is and always will be as a strong as a wall.
Our teacher has become one of my role models because of the same teaching she gave. The topic was, I guess, dignity of people. And she touched a very soft topic in a clean way. “How many of you thank the bus drivers and the sweepers that do your work?” Brimming with our ‘show off’ skills, about 90% of us rose our hands high. These type of ‘moral related’ questions have become the favourite of the teachers these days.
“Do you really?”
That question was a slap on our faces. Most of our heartbeats had transformed into those of a mice’s. But still we said “Yes ma’am!”
“Its good if you do. Really! I am not giving you guys a moral science lecture but, talking of karma, what you do comes back to you. Be it good or bad. Let me narrate a story to you. Okay?” Now Even if you are a 50 year old human, listening to a story always instigates a sense of curiosity in you. So we excited 11 grader kids said “yes!” In unison.
“Okay. So here you go! There was this factory in which a man worked enthusiastically. He had this habit of greeting the watchman as he came in the morning and also of saying ‘see you tomorrow’ to him when he left. One day it so happened that he had some job to finish even after his colleagues had left and he was eventually locked up in the factory for that night.” “Oh! What happened then?” All of us asked baffled. “As I said earlier, Karma did its work! The factory resembled a night without moon. Dark and dangerous. The frightened man started reciting the names of all the gods he could remember. Just then, there was a sound of shuffling of feet and a beam of light could be seen, searching fir someone. It was the watchman! On asking him how he came to know about the man inside the factory, the watchman replied simply ‘Sir, today i heard you wishing me good morning but you didn’t tell me that we’d meet tomorrow. I knew it wasn’t possible so I came looking for you in here!’ ” It was the first time I had seen my class being so quite that only the rustling of leaves could be heard from outside. We were all dumbfounded. The story was enough to teach us alot that day.
I always had the habit to thank the auto rickshaw drivers and the sweepers but I had never thought that these two tiny words would bring such a wide stretch of muscles on their faces. These little things were taught to us in class 1 and we never implemented them. Today is when I realise it’s importance. These humans play a very very very vital role in our lives. If it was not for them, we wouldn’t be able to stay so carefree for transportation and cleaning purposes at least. If not for the increasing prices. So let us all vow to help our ‘Best Brothers’ to smile so much that they forget their sorrows.
Keep thanking and also reading 😉 ~Manasvi N.