Showing posts with label Help. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Help. Show all posts

Thursday, April 3, 2014

Angels around you

A - Angels around you

It was the month of January - the harvest season in Southern India. I was eagerly waiting to go to my home town to spend the Pongal holidays (South Indian festival very similar to Thanks Giving) with my family.  It was just 4 months, since I joined as a trainee in a firm in a different city.. Also, it was the first time away from home for me and I was feeling terribly homesick. I even missed 'Diwali' - the festival of lights - holiday for the very first time in my life, since I was not given leave.

Fresh from college, very less exposure to the outside world, in a new city with less known people - Me and two of my girl friends from my town started to the bus terminus; we didn't had any reservations in hand.  We thought we could just catch a bus on the go.

We started from office at 6.15 pm and still hadn't reached half way even after 3 hours.  The entire city was struck with traffic. We reached the terminus at 10 pm.  It was an utter shock to see the rush there. It was like the entire city was migrating.

We slowly went to the place where buses to our city were parked.  Each and every bus was full and people were rushing in to catch seats.  It was like chaos everywhere.  We were unable to rush through the crowd with our luggage and literally were pushed by the crowd to a corner.  So we started to wait.  It was 2 am and we were sitting like so many others who were still expecting to catch the special buses to their cities.

We were sure that we would not catch a bus.  Also, we were unable to return back to our hostels, with our very poor knowledge in the city route buses and their timings. It was something we never expected to happen.  Rather than getting scared, I was completely angry and felt bad about not going to my home.
In addition, we are receiving calls from our parents continuously on our whereabouts and how we are going to return to our hostel.  Unable to answer and unable to accept the fact that we will not be going home this time, we were simply sitting and staring one another.

Fighting my tears back, I was staring at a distant bus. Suddenly, someone called me behind my shoulder. Two boys from our training batch were there; waiting for their buses :)  We were relieved to see them there.
Though we were working at the same place, we never talked much and I was very scared for one of the boys used to do his pranks on me whenever he got a chance and made me cry before my friends.

I was surprised to see him with a serious face expression rather than his usual smiling and funny reactions. He asked me to wait there with my friends and disappeared in the crowd.  After few minutes, all I could hear was "Run, Run!" - he was bursting from one direction, grabbed my bag and ran towards the direction he came from.

Thinking that was also going to be a prank, and unable to leave my luggage I was running behind him.  My two friends were following me with their bags.  I found him getting into a bus which was flowing with men, women and children. He got into the bus and disappeared in the human heads.  I was madly running behind him, got into the same bus, shouting "My Bag, my Bag...".  I found him sitting on a seat with this other guy.

I was crying with this added frustration; and shouted at him.  He smiled, got up from the seat and said - "we saved the seat for you girls.  Go, sit and happy holidays!".  He waited there till we three settled in the seats (which could comfortably occupy two, but that was the least thing to bother at that time), and managed to get down from the bus and was ready to wave us good bye from the nearby window.

I was still shocked with what had happened; and very excited that I'm finally going to my home :)  I happily waved good bye.  After a very tired, drowsy and slow ride, we reached our home town after 8 long hours.
I was glad to find my Father waiting to pick me up.  On our way home, we stopped at a little tea shop and I called this boy, who made this holiday an unforgettable one.  Me and my dad thanked him and heard that he was not going home and would spend it with his friends.

We became very good friends thereafter.  And for this past 8 years, he is this good, dear and best friend I have.  Even then he plays lot of pranks on me; but still he is the one whom I remember as an "Angel" who helped me to have a nice holiday time with my family.

Whatever the situation is - OK, Bad or Worse, there are angels around us who make us smile during tough times. Now, share your story when you felt an unexpected "Angel around You".