Care...

My friend and I were in the middle of a brisk walk inside the sports complex.

I got a call for some urgent work and we decided to leave immediately. As, it was pretty dark, I missed the rear lights of the car backing behind me. I banged hard into the bumper of that car. An old gentleman came out promptly and started reprimanding me for the accident.

Instantaneously a picture of a perpetually grumbling old man came to my mind-the sort of people, who forever find fault in others, and grumble at the tiniest pretext. Anyway, some sort of good sense prevailed over my mind and I duly apologized. We informed him of the urgency to leave, and pacified him. Seeing no use in prolonging the argument he graciously backed off.

Being, a regular at the complex I saw this gentleman again, after a few days. Once again, I remembered the unfortunate incident and my thoughts regarding this man. A small voice at the back of my mind said, “Serves him right for making a dent in his car”. I was shocked about the words coming to my mind, but nevertheless they were there!

Next day I saw an aged old lady probably in her mid seventies, walking slowly with the help of a stick. Looking at her I could feel the effort it was for her to move each foot. When I walked past her after twenty minutes, I saw her sitting on a bench .I saw an angelic expression on her face, and felt happy that all was well, and I left for home.

Next morning the weather had changed, it was very cold and foggy. I saw her again. She was wearing a scarf, a sweater, thick woolen socks, and was slowly heading towards her usual bench. Then I was shocked to see the old man whose car I had banged into, rushing towards her! He wiped off the dew on the bench, placed a thick mat, settled her down on it, draped a rug over her knees, and handed her a small flask of tea. Then he resumed his brisk walk around the complex.

I was totally dismayed and disgusted with myself!

Here, was this man, taking care of his wife, so meticulously, at his age; where one would expect to be looked after or being pampered himself.

On the other hand there were people like me, who had passed a spontaneous judgment on him, with out bothering to know anything about him or his travails……and also adopted such a baseless and a careless attitude towards him.

Because of remorse, I started wishing this lady every morning and started asking about her health. Later on, I came to know that their children were settled abroad. Both sons were busy in pursuing their dreams………And the old parents were fighting with hardships of life all by themselves.

It really is remarkable that at the fag end of life, two people can take care of each other without complaining…..They seem to have accepted all the problems that life wants to present them with…And still be able to find peace and contentment within themselves.