As I was walking on the narrow pavements flooded with rain water near my college, I saw an old man with a heavily rimmed, almost broken pair of glasses just sticking to his nose. He was very feeble and exhausted of all spirit. He wore a tattered and almost brown dhoti and was barefoot, leaning on a stick. He sat on one corner and started to open his packet of food that he had luckily earnt for the day.
His hands terribly shook when he unwound the packet and by the time he opened it, half the food was spilt on the ground and he had just a bare minimum to fill his stomach with. He laid the packet slowly on the ground and started to eat it.
Just as he was beginning to eat, there was a stray dog beside him lying on the hard floor. It seemed to be recently stoned in a terrible way, that it was even unable to move, it kept looking at his packet of food with yearning eyes. The old man looked at the dog, he stared at it quietly for a while, and then to my surprise, his face carried a weak upward curve. He silently laid half of the food he had in front of the ragged dog and quietly started munching away his share of the stale rice.
Tears pounded on to my cheeks as I saw this act of his. I went near him and handed him a 10 rupee note and resumed my pace. There are a very few people with such a generous nature 'To share'. From the elementary level, we are all told stories just to imbibe in us, the goodness of sharing things with each other, but in reality it is inscribed in the hearts of a very few.
The old man might have never stepped into school, never been told stories about so many good things that we have learnt. But he had in him, even though unmistakably poor and ignorant, the precious characterestic to share anything he got with somebody or some being in his life.
All images used in this post belongs to Vinod Velayudhan, a photographer who records beautiful moments and delivers precious memories. Visit his site www.vinodvv.com to view his pictures.
Well done. Heartfelt too.
ReplyDeleteJoy always,
Susan
Thank you Susan :)
DeleteTouching post Gayatri . The part about that person not having attended any school asks hard hitting questions . Some time back I had written a short fiction on very similar lines . http://www.jaishwrites.blogspot.sg/2012/09/the-family-share.html
ReplyDeleteThank you so much Jaish :) Will definitely read your story :)
DeleteA wonderful one Gayathree!! He I think is the best person..... :)
ReplyDeleteThank you for dropping in Akash :)
DeleteGood one..very touching :)
ReplyDeleteThank you Preethi :)
DeleteHeart melting one Gayu. He is an example.Good post :)
ReplyDeleteThank you Sush :)
DeleteDeeply touched ...
ReplyDeleteThank you for reading Minu :)
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ReplyDeleteWell done for giving him a 10 rupee note. Sharing and caring doesn't come with education, rather it comes with experience. :)
ReplyDeleteTrue that Sivaranjani :) Thank you for reading :)
DeleteNice one :)
ReplyDeleteRemembered a quote which I read somewhere long back - "The poor are the best in sharing, as they know the pangs of suffering"
very true, A poor man is rich at heart than a wealthy miser. :) Thank you for reading Kaushik. :)
DeleteReally good :')
ReplyDeleteSimple incidents change our perceptions to life and our thoughts.
yes yes :) and I'm happy it happened to me. :) Thank you Lak :)
Deletevery touching post..
ReplyDeleteThank you Meera :)
DeleteThat was an emotional and heartfelt tale, Gee. Be it fiction or poetry, you write really well. Keep at it! :)
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