Certain incidents which occur as part of our routine life and may not seem to be of great importance may linger in our recollections even as years pass by. They remain etched in memory and appear before one’s eyes sporadically. They remain as reflections of kind deeds, often by strangers, which make the society worth living in.

I was on an official assignment to Japan for a few weeks several years ago and was staying at a guest house in a suburb of Tokyo, a verdant neighbourhood called Hachioji. On a weekend when we were comparatively free from work, a colleague from Bangladesh and I decided to go to Tokyo city on a sightseeing tour. We took a suburban train from the nearby station and spent the day visiting various tourist spots and indulged in mostly, window shopping. And finally, towards the afternoon, we returned to the Shinjuku Railway Station, perhaps the busiest railway station in the world, to catch our train back to the Guest House.

The station was, as usual, very crowded and there were trains waiting on all the several platforms. Directional signs were in Japanese which made it impossible for us to comprehend. We searched for the platform on which we had alighted while coming in the morning and went to one which we thought it was. A train was already waiting there with people thronging it. My friend and I somehow managed to get in and found just enough room to stand among the crowded passengers. After a few minutes, I asked the person standing next to me in English whether the train will not take us to Hachioji. Apparently, he did not follow the “Gaigin” language, but hearing the place name, tried to explain in his own lingua that we had got into a wrong train. We must have looked blank and confused as his demeanour revealed! In desperation, the good Samaritan caught my hand, led me out of the train, with my friend following, and took us to another platform some distance away where the train to Hachioji was waiting, ready to leave, and pushed us into it and bowed, as is customary, and left without another word. I was sure that by the time he could return to his platform, the train which we had wrongly boarded and which he was to take would have already left. We felt extremely grateful and sorry for him; but his gesture told us a lot about the hospitality of the nation. I forgot the incident soon after though; but even after several years, it comes back to mind with a vague recollection of the young man who saved us a lot of trouble even at his own inconvenience.

Lost and found

All of us may come across such small but kind gestures in everyday life; and it is such kind acts from unknown and helpful Samaritans that bring a smile to our face and enhance our faith in humanity. Small acts of kindness from strangers whom we meet only once in life, but remain imprinted in our memory as they remain champions of courtesy! Small acts of kindness which all of us could emulate; acts of good will, which make a society worth living in.

indu.sethumadhavan@gmail.com