A History of Kindness

These are part of a selection of stories that have been gathered from conversations I had  with friends, acquaintances and strangers. I have grouped together the stories  which have a common theme.The following stories have been a gentle reminder for me to be a kinder human, something which I sometimes fail at. All of these stories are real. Now you know them too. 

1989-90. Mumbai near Kamathipura

Roby Antony, 21 old aspiring graphic designer  is penniless and crying . There is a malayali mess house nearby run by a man named Shankar. The young man cries lamenting the situation he is  in. An unnamed friend barges into the room. It is unclear whether he heard him crying. Incidentally he asks him whether he had eaten lunch, to which Roby said no. Both of them went down and ate at Shankar’s. As he was leaving Roby realizes this unnamed friend also did not have money but due to his relation with Shankar he could put it in his credit. Into the due amount the unnamed friend had to pay,  Roby Antony’ meals were also added. Roby Antony, now in his 50s remembers this incident as proof of God's Existence. This unnamed friend could have gone alone to eat his lunch yet he had a empathy to see another person who was also hungry. 

1989 - 90 Mumbai 

Jose, a friend of Roby Antony a native of Thrissur came to Mumbai in hopes of changing his future. He is also 21. Presently he was trapped inside a Bombay Local Train . He does not remember from where to where he is traveling. However like it is today the Bombay local is overcrowded. People are holding on to anything they can find. However at a point the grip Jose had loosens. He starts falling to the side. At the end of his fall he would meet his maker. He would join many others who fall out of trains everyday and die. However a hand grabs him by his waist. Jose notes that for the reminder of his journey he tried to find whose hand it was. He was sure it was the hand of someone like him, who had been trapped in this train because of their circumstances. Yet for some reason, this man saved Jose’s life, when he had no reason to. From an objective perspective it can be argued that what that unnamed man did was what any man would have done. Yet Jose in his narration of events makes it a point that he had no reason to even notice that Jose was falling let alone save him. 

2020-Near Lourdes, Kochi 

Anthony C is past 70 years old and living with his elder son. He suspects that the elder son was beating his grandson. He couldn't be sure. Yet he limbs towards the place of noise. The fact was that he grandson was merely being scolded. Yet Antony C says it is not right to hit Children and limbs back to bed. The elder son later says to me that Antony C had a habit of hitting his children when they were young. Antony C may have realized his sins a little too late, but it is clear he does not want the cycle of trauma to continue. 

2022 - Kacheripady, Kochi 

I had an  opportunity later to talk with the grandson. He narrates the time when he returned from a trip in  bangalore. He waits in Kacheripady for his father to pick him up. At that moment a native from Tamil Nadu who was almost the age of his Father came towards saying that he did not have  any food to eat. The grandson instinctively buys him a masala dosa From the Ashok Bhavan nearby. On his way home he tells the father about this event.The grandson says he hoped that man was a genuine case and not a fraud because otherwise he has just wasted his father's money . The father listens and reassures him to have no qualms about what he had done ( if he had any). The money that you have most probably is the kindness of others. The father's name was, of course, Roby Antony C.