An Hour at the Busstand...

An Hour at the Busstand...

had a tough day. we were working on a project the entire day in the college workshop. After packing up late in the evening we counted the how many coins do we have literally. together we had enough to have two cup of tea for us both. we had tea and then I waved good bye to my friend, tea partner, project partner almost a life partner, Piyush. I started walking towards bus stand needed to catch the bus at 10.30. my watch was clocking 9.45 by the time I reached bus stand. there was still some time left for bus to arrive for my village. I went and sat on my daily place on a bench in the corner. Its been my daily routine these days. I took out my phone I stared reading previous chats on Hike which I usually do in my free time. the sound of coins falling on the bench in front of me caught my attention when a very old woman pulled her ages old blanket and a mat out of her equally old bag. that woman has been at the bus stand from quite a time now. I have been travelling to Aurangabad from my village for 6 years now to attend college. and as far as I remember this woman has always been there. there are many such homeless people some abandon their family, some were abandon by their families. this woman has been somehow surviving here, asking money to the people. people call them beggar right? I don't. how else is she supposed to survive at this age. she is so old that her back is almost bent at 90 degrees. I travel on student pass by state transport bus and whatever few rupee I mostly spend on tea every evening. so there is no way I can help her with money. But, I could have helped her that night. by picking up those fallen coins and returning them to her. I guess she could not hear well due to her age so she did not realize the coins falling off. but, for some reasons I did not help her. I can't call myself shy or conservative because that can not stop anyone from helping someone. but yeah I was over conscious of the fact that what will other people around would have thought about me had I picked up those coins. While I was lost in that thought people started running after a bus that came to platform. buses to my village are always over crowded and getting a seat is as if a matter of survival. but it turned out to be the wrong bus. I came back and sat on the same place. I looked at the mobile and its charging was critically low. so I kept it back and got lost in the world of thought.

"Are you going to Paithan?", a lady of my mothers age wearing a red saree and an elegant pair of specs sitting besides me asked. she appeared to be a teacher to me. "Umm! on the same route few stops before ma'am", I replied hesitantly. communication again is one of many issues I have. she started complaining about the time mismanagement by state transport and all. I just kept nodding. she was talking so fluently sometimes in Marathi sometimes in English. I was choosing the words very carefully while talking her. my cloths were very dirty as we had worked whole day on the engine at college workshop and I did not want her to judge me by my cloths. again over conscious huh. After some time she pointed towards the fallen coins of that old woman telling me that lady did not even realize her coins have fallen. Its been more than half hour to the incident and I had completely forgotten about it distracted by that wrong bus. "So I was not the only one who did not help that old woman", I talked to myself. I kept looking at those coins, feeling guilty. just then one young boy came and sat right beside those fallen coins on bench right in front of me. he was talking on mobile. I was thinking what will he do when he notices those coins. after few minutes he was still on call he noticed those coins besides him. he got little surprised which is normal. he looked around I quickly looked away to avoid him finding me staring right at him. He looked around if anyone is watching him. he took his wallet out. I felt very pity about him. I thought now he is gonna pick them up for himself. but, he checked his wallet kept it back and walked away. he was just checking if those coins were his or not. I felt ashamed of myself. first I myself did not help that woman and now I was judging someone else. it made me feel even more guilty. that old lady had lied down on a worn out mat on the floor when another lady in her middle 40s came and asked the old lady about her health. this lady is also one of them who stays at bus stand only. but she does not so called beg because I have seen her around in city selling some things. she was talking very loudly as the old lady could not hear properly. 

Finally an uncle who sells salted nuts and stuff at bus stand noticed those fallen coin when he was packing his stuff up as it was getting very late in the night. he immediately understood the coins must have been that old woman's. He shouted in hindi "Oye Buddhi, teri chillar padi hain idhar utha le" meaning Oye old woman, look your coins are lying here pick them up. just when I was bit relived that finally coins will reach where it belonged, the other lady who had just come and was talking with this old women came running and picked all the coins up. She took them all. I thought so it just wasn't supposed be. In my mind I started cursing that lady for taking those coins. The old woman was struggling to get up and was literally begging other lady to return her coins. but , She ignored her and kept counting coins. Seeing this the teacher sitting beside me commented "Pathetic People". well I couldn't agree more with her that time. and then what happened blown my mind for forever. lady said to old women "Ye le Maa! 5 ke 3 coin hain, 2 ke 5 coin hain aur 1 ke 8 coin hain. Pure 33 rupaye hain acchese rakh". I was dumbstruck. she was telling the old woman hey mother there are three 5 rupee, five 2 rupee and eight 1 rupee coins total Rs.33 take and keep it somewhere carefully. Obviously, she was not her real mother but the point was she wasn't taking those coins for herself. and I was cursing her. I wanted to dig a hole and hide myself somewhere away from all the self guilt and embarrassment. I looked at the teacher besides me and the same guilt was there her eyes too. This last one hour was endorsed into my mind for the rest of my life. first of all, I did not help an old woman worried of what the people around me will think about me. then I judge a decent boy that he will take someone else's money I was proven wrong but what did I do even after that, I cursed the most beautiful soul out there who was actually helping the old woman. The life was on roll that one hour giving me lesson after lesson. I still remember that one hour vividly. That day I decided I would never have second thought in helping someone. and Secondly, Prejudice term was just abandon by me for the rest of my life. I would always be thankful to those coins to teach me two of the most beautiful values in life, Helping others and not judging them without entirely knowing the situation.

The Incident happened on 27th January,2017