Kindness begets kindness

It was my maiden solo train trip from Bengaluru to Mumbai. Excessive baggage had prevented me from boarding a flight, and safety had encouraged me to book a second AC ticket. Luckily for me, both my co-passengers were jolly women.

Having co-passengers with cheerful dispositions helped, as we bantered the day away. Afternoon turned into evening as we approached the border. After an early dinner, we retired to bed. I was relieved that a large part of the journey was over and that we would reach Mumbai by dawn.

Little did I know that the major hurdle of the trip was still ahead of me.

I woke up at midnight with an excruciating stomach ache. I reached for my water bottle and found it nearly empty. With the ache clouding my thoughts and the minute possibility of railway staff walking about, I sat up.

 I don’t know what made one of my co-passengers wake up. Maybe it was the sound of me grabbing my empty bottle, but in retrospect, I’d like to believe that it was providence. She opened her eyes to see me squirming in pain, offered me water and sought an explanation. I mumbled something unintelligible involving the words ‘pain’ and ‘acidity’. Relief appeared on her face as she understood my plight, and calmly took out a sealed bottle of antacid. 

“My daughter often gets acidity, so I keep antacid with me. Throughout her childhood, my bag would always be the ‘medicine bag’ for her. She would never pack medicines in her bag!” she laughed, while pouring me some antacid in a spoon.

“Here, drink this up,” she said while handing me the spoon, “Feeling better?” she asked, lovingly patting my head. I nodded, drowsily muttered, “Thank you Aunty,” and drifted off to a dreamless sleep, waking only to the sound of a railway announcement at Kalyan, near Mumbai outskirts.

“Good morning. I thought that I would wake you up at Thane,” Aunty entered with towel and toilet kit in hand.

“You’ve been of so much help to me. If it weren’t for you, I don’t know how I would’ve managed to get through last night,” I gushed gratefully.

“It wasn’t a big deal. We must be kind to one another,” she said simply, packing her bags. 

It’s been five years since I said goodbye to Aunty, yet whenever I end up helping somebody, I still recall her. She not only helped me, but inspired me to be proactive while helping others too.

Our lives are sprinkled with incidents of friends, family, God, and strangers being kind to us, and we being kind to them too. 

After all, one act of kindness begets another.