Being a Saturday, and a holiday, I got up a little late from bed. It was such a blissful feeling, I must tell you, to get to sleeping late in the morning with no alarms ringing in your ears. What a fantastic way to begin a day! Right? So, I must have slept my day, until the Sun didn’t attain a position straight upon our heads. I got up and immediately asked for a cup of tea to my lovely wife, as my ten hours sleep fed swollen eyes were turning down all my proposals in lieu to opening themselves.
With in ten minutes of my entreaty for some tea, it was fulfilled. Still donning my pyjamas, holding a piping hot cup of tea in my right hand and the tabloid for today in the left, here I was sitting in my lounger with multiple cushions behind my back, for extra comfort you see. Alter all nothing could be better than lazing around, just the way was doing, while actually doing nothing worthwhile for anyone else, but for oneself.
By the time I could have finished my tea, the doorbell rang. “Who could it be?” *I murmured to myself, as I didn’t want any visitors at this time of the day. Especially for the very reason that I only wanted the day to myself, and with wifie of course. The visit of any guest to my place today was going to be contemplated as an act of war, as I would measure that as an invasion into my private space.
Honey, can you please answer the bell? A my wife’s voice was heard from the kitchen. Due to my utter dislike for any visitor at home today and with all of these ever building grudges in my head, I didn’t realize that the door bell had not been answered for 5 minutes, even when I was sitting only a hand’s distance from it.
With no welcoming intension in my heart and a grin furnished face I went and opened the door. My, already fired up head, just smelted to see two kids in front of my door. These two kids must have been 12 to 14, wearing a sorry looking school dress, with a ragged collar and a decrepit shorts. I recognized the pattern of this school dress immediately, as I see it almost every single day, on my way to office. This school uniform was of a government school. The quality of any government school is such that no parent would ever want to send their offspring into it, if they have a minutest of other option at their disposal.
Why have you come here!, I screamed at these already dejected & anxious looking kids. Uncle, we have come here to collect some donation, for celebrating Independence Day at school. We are going from door to door asking for help. Uncle, would you please care for some charity today? Since morning 8 AM till now we have gone tried our luck at 30 plus houses, but all we have been able to manage till now is this. They showed a ₹10 {circa 6 cents} note to me and now the other boy who was quite up till now spoke. “Uncle, we get midday meal at school and many of us come to school just for that reason. And now our teacher said, if we can manage a donation of around ₹200 {circa $3}, then we can also have a sweet, on the occasion of our national Independence Day.
Before the boy could have even completed his statement, I interrupted him. Why are you telling me all of this? I know all about you scamsters very well, so you can’t fool me into believing your sorry story. Go from here as you are not getting a dime from me today. My words must have been the daggers that pierced them into their hearts, as they didn’t utter a word and just left the place at once.
Once they left my place and I returned into my cosy sofa, the level of comfort had reduced to the ground. Why was I not feeling as great and cheerful, as I was before I did, what I did to those scamsters. Or were they really trying to con me by asking for a tiny donation- a donation that would have costed me lesser than a cup of tea. Why was my heart feeling so heavy? Why is that my mind was going back to those kids, again and again? It should have felt good to me since I gave a peace of my mind to them, but then why did it feel just the opposite?
What if the kids were genuinely in need and what better occasion would I have gotten to help some needy kids? These are the questions that have been haunting me since those kids vanished from my sight, and yet not waning from my mind?
What do you think I should do to restore my lost peace, into my heart and soul? Please help!!
