It was sometime in the summer of 2004. Our hearts were filled with the joy of the thrilling sight, the Brindavan Gardens had provided and we were driving back to Bangalore. As we were drawing close to the City, one of the front wheels of our car was punctured, forcing us to push it into the kutcha. We had inadvertently left the tools of the car back at home and looked for a mechanic.

Assuring that he would return soon with a mechanic from any nearby garage, our son began walking into the pitch dark night on that lonely stretch of the highway. On the one hand, I was gripped with fear all the time about my son’s safe return while security of my wife, our daughter-in-law, grand daughter and our maid-servant inside the car kept haunting me on the other.

Relief came soon. A motorcycle stopped near our car. I could see the silhouette of a police sub-inspector with a cop on the pillion. Hearing our pathetic plight he left the cop at our guard and rode towards Bangalore to find out Suresh, our son and help him in getting a mechanic. With only a police constable guarding us in that isolated place at the dead of the night, we felt as if we were sitting on thorns all the time.

The return of Suresh with a mechanic albeit after an hour, gave us a sigh of relief from those harrowing moments. An unusually kind and sympathetic official, the sub-inspector enquired us if we needed any other help. With a nod in the negative we thanked him. After about ten minutes or so, a serviceable wheel taking the place of the punctured one relieved us of the uncertainty.

Itching all the time to reciprocate the timely help from the police officer, I took aside one of his cops and pressed a hundred rupee note in his palm. Noticing this even in that darkness, the SI gestured to the cop not to accept the tips. The honest and benevolent SI hung tough and rejected the offer. Expressing our sincere thanks to that helpful-natured police official, a prodigy among those of his calling, we drove off straight homewards.

My family and I owe our heartfelt gratitude to that exceptionally good police official, whom we failed to reach through all means even to this date.