June 6, 2011

As I sat browsing through the news articles, something suddenly caught my attention. The heartwarming saga of the endeavour of a young male to give back to society, to do his bit for the downtrodden, by setting aside a portion of his income to teach the underprivileged children. MG Jayaprakash – someone who showed us how to walk the talk. Truly, a beacon of hope in an increasingly self centered world. I wouldn’t be exaggerating if I’d say, to those kids, he is the Good Samaritan. And while I read his story, I couldn’t help reminiscing about my rendezvous with a Good Samaritan. I regret I never had the chance to ask her name but if she reads this someday, I will be happy. So here it goes…

It was the year of 2010. We were flying to Mangalore for Christmas and I was super excited as I was going home for the first time after entering into wedlock. I was going to be seeing my parents after a whole year which seemed to me nothing less than eternity. And of course, I was looking forward to family weddings, quality time with cousins, kuswar and lots of pampering. Anticipation was at a crescendo as we boarded the flight to Gatwick on December 17.

December 18 - It was then that the nightmare started. Unprecedented snowstorms ensured ours was the last flight to land that morning . Our next flight was to be boarded from Heathrow but with no road access we were stranded at Gatwick for the night. British airways were kind enough to put us up at the Hilton.

December 19 – Once, we checked out of the hotel at 12 noon, we went to the Gatwick airport to ask BA to get us a hotel at Heathrow, (BA had told us the previous day that they were giving us only 1 day accommodation in Gatwick and that we have to come back to them the next day and they would give us a hotel at Heathrow since our flight for India takes off from Heathrow.) To our disappointment after waiting with four heavy bags of luggage for over 7 hours at Gatwick, we were told by BA that there are no available flights till December 24, so we have to fend for ourselves and find a hotel and BA will reimburse us later.

Once we reached Heathrow, we took a chance and asked the BA desk at Heathrow whether we could get a hotel. To our surprise they booked us into another Hilton franchise at Heathrow for 1 night. We however took our luggage and boarded a bus to reach this Hilton Hotel that the BA had given us. After getting down from the bus, we had to get onto a train to reach the hotel.

It was in the train that disaster struck. Tired, weary and hungry, pondering over the next course of action, we began our journey. In due course, we arrived at the station. A pretty British lady helped us get 1 suitcase and 1 handbag off the train at the Bracknell station but to our horror, the train doors closed and Neville and I were left in the train with the rest of the luggage. We got off the next station which was deserted. We found an intercom and buzzed for help. The helpful officer at the other end of the line told us that he couldn’t see anyone with the bags and no one had called it in yet. A land where we knew no one, biting cold and frayed nerves. We were at our wits end by now because it was 8 pm, we had not had our lunch and despair was all around. And then we heard a voice over the intercom again. We were told that a lady had just called in about the incident and she would be waiting for us till we got back to Bracknell.

Needless to say, we had tears of joy. For that was the first good thing to have happened to us since that morning. My chivalrous husband lugged the remaining bags over numerous stairs until we got to the opposite side and boarded the train again. Having alighted at the designated point, our joy knew no bounds when we saw her. The kind lady was still waiting with our bags. We were overwhelmed that people like these still exist in the world as we know it today. We profusely thanked this wonderful woman. She gave me a warm and comforting hug when we narrated our ordeal. We said our goodbyes. Finally we took a taxi and reached the hotel. We slept at 1 am that night.

December 21 – Many frantic phone calls and dashed hopes later, at 2 am that night, we had our second Christmas miracle. My ever helpful brother-in-law and cousin managed to get us tickets for 22nd. At 4 am, we packed our bags and reached the airport by 7 am. We finally boarded our flight and safely reached home and walked into the loving arms of our families.

This incident is an exemplary demonstration of the parable of the Good Samaritan from the Bible, played out in real life. This inimitably beautiful parable has such profound but simple truth. It makes every man the neighbor of every man. Secondly, reflect on the conduct of the priest and the Levite. We see that they were heartless, but they did not see it. We do the same thing ourselves, and do not see that we do; for how many of us have not known of many miseries which we could have done something to stop, and yet have turned a blind eye or been content to be an armchair critic because our lives were unaffected?

I somewhere once read that true religion teaches us to regard every man as our neighbour; prompts us to do good to all, to forget all national or sectional distinctions, and to aid all those who are in circumstances of poverty and want. If religion were valuable for nothing but this, it would be the most lovely and desirable principle on earth. While we might have differences of opinion as far as religion is concerned, and while we are steadfast in our belief about what we consider to be the truth, still we should treat each other kindly, aid each other in necessity and should thus show that religion is a principle superior to the love of sect. The thread that binds us is humanity and must not be put aside because of a difference in opinion.

Martin Luther King often referred to the story of the Good Samaritan. In "A time to break silence" he says, "On the one hand we are called to play the Good Samaritan on life's roadside; but that will be only an initial act. One day we must come to see that the whole Jericho road must be transformed so that men and women will not be constantly beaten and robbed as they make their journey on life's highway. True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it is not haphazard and superficial. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring". This is exactly what individuals like MG Jayaprakash are doing; being the change they want to see in the world. Lip service will often be paid by those who say it most often but obey it the least. The clarion call of today is to not let our kindness be marred by apathy, forms of worship or a bigoted attachment to what we deem to be most precious but to be the Good Samaritan with little acts of kindness in every little way we can in our little lives.