Kindness

Right out of journalism school, I had started working for an English daily in Bangalore. Few months into my job, I decided it was time to take a break. Few of my college friends were going to Kolkata, so i planned to join them. It so happened that the day I was to leave, my parents had to go to Mumbai. So with much difficulty I woke up for my early morning flight and somehow managed to reach the airport without my mother's assistance. I reached just in time for the check in and totally forgot about eating breakfast. I had taken one of those flights which do not serve breakfast. The flight had a stop over so it was a pretty long journey. I instantly went of to sleep. I woke up to the voice of the air hostess asking me whether I wanted to order for food. I realized how hungry i was. I asked the air hostess what was on their menu. She smiled, "Sandwiches", she said. I asked her to give me one. As i opened my wallet to remove money, to my embarrassment I saw that I had only Rs 10 in my wallet. I had completely forgotten to pick up cash. I looked at her and asked, “Do you accept cards?” She answered in the negative. I put my wallet into my bag and said, “Oh let it be”. There were still two hours to go. And i had to do without food. The air hostess came back after two minutes and said, “ Are you a vegetarian or a non vegetarian?” I was surprised. Not to embarrass my self further, I literally whispered, “ You don’t understand but i have no money”. She asked me again, “Vegetarian or non-vegetarian?” I thought maybe she was hard of hearing, so i simply said, “Vegetarian”. I was just cooking an answer in my mind when she came back again, with a sandwich in one hand. She gave it to me. I got angry. Was she deliberately trying to embarrass me? How many times should i tell her i have no money? Very politely I said again, “Look i have no money to give you, so i don’t want the sandwich.” She smiled. Placing the sandwich in my hand she said, “ Its ok , don’t pay me . It's our little secret”. I stared as she walked away. I ate the sandwich hungrily and then drifted off in a deep peaceful sleep. I don’t know the name of the air hostess but i know that people like her make the world a better place.