Tuesday, July 1, 2008

The simple pleasure of giving

Has this happened to you
I started my career as a journalist in India's capital city in the 1990s. I fell in love with this city, even though the extreme weather would often find me cursing myself for landing there.
I was in between jobs in 1997. I had walked out of a Senior Sub Editor's job in a top business magazine.
I often drop my wife to her office and sometimes even get ber back, since I had lots of free time and the library at PIB was so cool a place to take a nap during the hot days.
It was during one such journeys that I noticed a smart young lady walking aimlessly on the roads. I had also seen her near PIB once or twice. Later my wife told me that she had a job but she had tripped when her boyfriend ditched her. Many a time I had felt like stopping my bike and talking to her. But something held me back. After a month or so I never saw her again. When I mentioned this to a close friend he said that I should I have helped her. I had felt that too. And I had regretted that I could never help her. I was afraid of a lot of things but still I feel I should I have taken her to my place and helped her.
And in 2002 I had an experience which left me humbled and baffled at the same time. But that is another post.