A world that I know exists
Like any other day, I was driving down from office to home which is roughly a 2 hour drive. Typically for any Delhitte, it’s a normal experience who is working in Gurgaon and staying in any of the West, North or East Delhi. Though this day turned out to be quite unusual and memorable to me. It was 9 o’ clock, I was crossing Moti Bagh and I stopped at a snack shop on Shanti Path just before the Bharat Petroleum fuel pump to pick some chips (as I was craving for food due to hunger). I got down & came back with the packet just to find out that my car couldn’t start. I tried again and again until I realised that it’s not going to work this way. In the meanwhile, a guy who was standing at the snack shop watching me struggling with my car came & asked me to open the bonnet. He saw couple of things inside there and said it was a ‘battery down’ problem. He then called one rickshaw-wala and they both started pushing my car wherein I was sitting inside trying to follow the instructions he gave me with clutch, gear & race. But no, it didn’t work out either. My heart started beating faster as the road is always very silent and unfortunately my phone just got switched-off due to low battery – curse smart phones for that. It suddenly reminded me of the ‘Nirbhaya’ case happened recently in Delhi giving me even creepier feeling. Now, I couldn’t trust this guy completely who was trying to help me or at least showing the same. I was distracted with these thoughts when he came to me & said, “You get down, I will try to start your car” and I did. Standing there, I saw the guy trying to start my car and rickshaw-wala pushing it from behind when it just stuck my mind that how could I be so stupid to let him take my car which had my laptop, my phone and my wallet just in case he has some wrong intend. What if the car starts & he takes it and then, I ran behind them. The car didn’t start! And I was so thankful for it at the moment. Coming back to the awful situation, I was stuck in the middle of the road post 9 o’ clock in Delhi, a city in which very brutal ‘Nirbhaya’ case happened few months back & the whole city was in shock. It was just not funny and I had no other option but to trust this guy. Then, he gave me his phone to make calls & ask for help. I first called my car breakdown service provider ‘Race’ who promised to help me in 30-45 min. and then my brother to inform him about the situation. The fear was still there in my head telling me things like, “this guy might take advantage of me being alone with broken car and switched-off phone”, “he is just pretending to be helpful” and so on. Wherein, to my surprise he said, “I am around since I have some work, you can keep my phone till someone comes for help” and gave his second no. so that I call him once I am sorted. Damn! Really? Did he actually understand me feeling uncomfortable around him and went? Well, the ‘Race’ people kept me waiting for an hour post which my brother came & fixed the car. Yes, he could! I called this guy; I & my brother, we thanked him. I returned his phone with a smile on my face and relief in my heart. The fact is that I still thank him and I am still grateful for the help – he did, the concern – he showed, the world he gave me – that I could just dream would exist but not really believe exists.
Reminds me of latest Alia Bhatt short movie “Going Home” with punch line: “Can we give her the world that she believes exists?” Post this incident, I can so proudly say that “YES, we can”, this guy did! And, he did it in the best possible way. I believe it’s not fair just to popularise the bad deeds happening around us. I am sure the good equally exists; we just need to talk about it a little more, just spread the word a little more and the world will be a better place to live in.
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About the Author: The article has been shared by our contributor, Kanika Arya.
