<p>It had been a tough day for my thirty-five year old mother. She had been handling irate customers since morning and had ended up getting delayed by an hour to pick me (an eight year old, then) and my ten year old brother from school. To top it all, it had started drizzling. Our faces, eagerly waiting at the school gates, brought a small smile to her tired face. She happily hugged us together and we got into a crowded bus. <br /><br />We were completely exhausted but we stood patiently along with wet and sweaty people to make the one hour journey back home. The rain had intensified and we could hardly see anything outside. It took us almost two hours to reach our stop. The heavy rains had caused traffic jams throughout the city. Collecting the folds of her saree, clutching her office bag, holding the umbrella in one hand and our hands in the other, mom helped us get down into the dark, lonely and wet bus-stop.<br /><br />We then started the last lap, a two kilometre walk from the bus-stop to our apartment, of our journey home. We had walked about five to ten steps in the splashing rains and muddy road, when we heard a voice at our back. To our surprise, it was the driver of the bus we had just alighted from, calling mom.“Where do you have to go?” he asked loudly making himself heard above the sound of the heavy rain.“The house is two kilometres down the lane,” mom shouted back, barely able to see the driver from under the umbrella and the huge screen of the rains.<br /><br />Perhaps it was the rains. Perhaps it was my young mom’s difficult situation. Maybe he did not like the look of the lonely road that the three of us were about to set out on. He did something he must never have done before. He knew that there were other passengers in the bus and they might object to what he was going to do. But he did what his conscience called him to do. Without showing any trace of emotion on his face, he said, “Get back in. I will drop you at your house.” <br /><br />Mom couldn’t believe her ears. She accepted the help with a grateful smile and we climbed back into the bus.The bus took a diversion from its normal route and dropped all of us to our apartment gate. Life has since moved on and mom has long retired from her job. But the gratitude that we felt for the driver still lingers and the memories of that night have stayed in our minds forever.</p>
<p>It had been a tough day for my thirty-five year old mother. She had been handling irate customers since morning and had ended up getting delayed by an hour to pick me (an eight year old, then) and my ten year old brother from school. To top it all, it had started drizzling. Our faces, eagerly waiting at the school gates, brought a small smile to her tired face. She happily hugged us together and we got into a crowded bus. <br /><br />We were completely exhausted but we stood patiently along with wet and sweaty people to make the one hour journey back home. The rain had intensified and we could hardly see anything outside. It took us almost two hours to reach our stop. The heavy rains had caused traffic jams throughout the city. Collecting the folds of her saree, clutching her office bag, holding the umbrella in one hand and our hands in the other, mom helped us get down into the dark, lonely and wet bus-stop.<br /><br />We then started the last lap, a two kilometre walk from the bus-stop to our apartment, of our journey home. We had walked about five to ten steps in the splashing rains and muddy road, when we heard a voice at our back. To our surprise, it was the driver of the bus we had just alighted from, calling mom.“Where do you have to go?” he asked loudly making himself heard above the sound of the heavy rain.“The house is two kilometres down the lane,” mom shouted back, barely able to see the driver from under the umbrella and the huge screen of the rains.<br /><br />Perhaps it was the rains. Perhaps it was my young mom’s difficult situation. Maybe he did not like the look of the lonely road that the three of us were about to set out on. He did something he must never have done before. He knew that there were other passengers in the bus and they might object to what he was going to do. But he did what his conscience called him to do. Without showing any trace of emotion on his face, he said, “Get back in. I will drop you at your house.” <br /><br />Mom couldn’t believe her ears. She accepted the help with a grateful smile and we climbed back into the bus.The bus took a diversion from its normal route and dropped all of us to our apartment gate. Life has since moved on and mom has long retired from her job. But the gratitude that we felt for the driver still lingers and the memories of that night have stayed in our minds forever.</p>
