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Shruthi made a prank call to her boyfriend Nanda that she will be at his place in 30 minutes. Now, Nanda, from his history of experience with his love-dove knows that if she says its going to be 30 minutes, it will be 45 minutes. Nevertheless , he gets ready to look his best for her. He downs the bowl of pop infront of him, pauses his match on tv and adds it to watch later list and makes a dash to the bathroom. Oops. He just remembered the batteries on his trimmer were out and he can't have a trim. His beard , all unkempt and his attire , boasting of a spoilt boy of the city, he realizes he needs to do something quick to impress her. Smell - She likes Smell ! He throws the cell on the bed, zippity zap , enters the shower to a good lathering of Shruthi's favorite scented body wash. 5 minutes in the shower , he kicks the door open to reach for his cell to hit a popular Food-Ordering App. His hands still dripping wet and standing there with no dignity, he is unable to place an order. Goes back in, drapes in a messy towel wrap and starts recklessly ordering Shruthi's Spicy panneer roll snacks and Choco lava cake. Chooses the quickest delivery option available, confirms order and happily goes back in to complete his daily quota of ablutions.
Shankar, meanwhile, moonlights as a Food delivery agent after working in a popular call center from 9-5. The earnings not really filling his pockets, Shankar had been living a very humble life, making tough sacrifices. One being, the inability to not eat the very own tasty aromatic dishes which he himself delivers for a living. His parents got separated after years of bickering and his Grand mother from his mother stayed with them. A Dialysis patient of the upper 70s , she had her own struggle and routine of cursing herself for being a burden to the family , dependent on food and washing . The struggle an old person goes through is not just physical , especially when they need hand-to-mouth care. Every day they cringe at themselves for being dependent on someone, unable to take care off themselves, however understanding or rebellious their progeny are. The lady had her last 3 dialysis treatments to be completed, the sessions were not so cheap and with the parents not pitching in due to their own war , Shankar was scraping the end of the barrel to make sure his granny hung around. He had completed all his deliveries on time , with good ratings and rarely gets treated to a Tip from a generous customer. He just received Nanda's order and he gets delighted to make some money, as this final delivery will give him a monthly bonus and he can buy a nice pair of sandals for him apart from the expense of his granny's dialysis session. Get's into his uniform, a quick sip of water, mask , a hush of his deo and heads out to the restaurant, happy that the almighty looked out for him, in spite of the quandary he was caught in.
The delivery takes more time, as the hotel suffers from a temporary power glitch and the staff got overworked, unable to prioritize the orders placed online and physically. Shankar frantically looks at the watch as the App had already committed a delivery time of 20 minutes for Nanda's order and here he was unable to do anything. He prepares a list of apologies mentally to tell Nanda, if the delivery time overshoots. And exactly as he feared, he was late by 10 minutes. Due to a masterstroke of evil fate, the mobile app suffered a glitch as well, where the delivery orders were not updated based on current status and the customers were not notified off delay in orders. It finally got done. He grabbed the parcel and invoice, rockets through the 6.00 evening office return traffic, arrives at Nanda's pad a good 20 minutes late. Meanwhile, he can hear a couple talking loudly, a young man trying to impress his girl with all romantic antics and also cussing the delivery agent every now and then. Just Shankar was secretly smiling to know that the customer was not pissed, when Nanda uttered some really bad words at the delivery agent because the order was delayed and his attempt to catch his girl by surprise, by giving her favorite dish bombed, Shankar's skin crawled. He almost felt his manhood drop when he had to endure the insult and crass talk by his customers. With great courage, he knocks and Nanda came out red with fury and literally wrinkles all over his face. He gives Shankar a good 5 minute earful , throwing the delivery charge and few extra 100 bucks at his face for his shabby delivery and bangs the door on Shankar's face. Shankar didn't even get a chance to explain himself, or request the formal "please leave a good rating" to the customer. Just as he was about to return he receives a ping in his mobile , an alert message saying he got 2/5 ratings. His heart sank. He will miss his monthly bonus as he needed the 5 rating and that cash would have been really really helpful. Just as he was about to enter into a whirlpool of self pity, he just got reminded of the extra 100 bucks which Nanda had thrown at him and he instantly lit up to realize that it was sufficient enough for Granny's dialysis session for that week. He walks down , each step becoming heavier than the previous, as he comforts himself saying, that his next 10 happy customers will take care of the sandals which he was planning to buy.
Nanda and Shankar were of same age. Both acted out of urge - one to impress his girlfriend and another to take care of his granny. Both operated with money as medium. Both lost pride that day, Nanda , in front of his girlfriend ( as he fails to surprise her on time) and Shankar, for being yelled at . But, Shankar, obviously got the short end of the bargain here, and who's to blame? The restaurant ? The Electricity Board ? The Traffic on the road ? His granny , for being sick ? Fate ? There might be a a 1000 things that could have complicated the situation, but If Nanda had acted out of compassion, with a human heart, a controlled mind and a willingness to read the situation, Surely Shankar's struggles would have had a happy ending. The rating could have given him the bonus, the compassion could have encouraged Shankar for the humble service he was doing and at the end, his heart would have thanked the skies for being treated with kindness. All Human hearts respond to Kindness.
The other day, when I was strolling on the road at night for a casual walk, when I saw the different delivery vendors scurrying even on a national holiday, sacrificing on a public off, just with the intent of making some money by delivering someone's product to another - my heart just said one thing to me. Vignesh, Remember to be Kind, especially when you are disappointed. You never know. What we see is only one side of the coin. A happy friend of ours is hiding all the reasons he/she is unhappy, just to save face. Don't judge by the good they seem to enjoy once in a while. You never know what they are about to lose, or what they lost. Being Kind takes no effort. Just a Human Heart that works like a Human Heart. Be Kind - and the Universe will be Kinder to you . We are all here and each one's kindness is what keeps Earth from falling.
