ARK

ARK means, Art of Random Kindness, from the movie Bruce Almighty. I was just reaching my parking lot to get my bike, that I remembered something not so nice. Some days back, when I was maneuvering through the traffic, I hit the side mirror of a car. It was not a big thing as it was just a slight scratch to the mirror. I was hardly moving. The owner of the car looked at me.

Before he could even say something I was away. In that jam packed traffic there was no way in the world he could have chased me down. The last chance of getting me was by noting down my bike number. That was also not possible as the number plate of my bike was so badly maintained that he could have hardly noticed the number from a distance.


After I rode away, I felt guilty. By then there was nothing I could do. It was a very rich guy in the car, probably the scratch was not that big a deal to him. This was on my mind as I reached my bike in the parking lot. This time I did feel guilty, but not that much as that day. I told myself to stay alert while driving. As soon as I started my bike and went out of the parking lot for around 500 m, I heard someone shooting for a lift. He was carrying something heavy. It was a man in his 45s.

Usually I never give a lift to total strangers. But this time, I felt different. I felt like helping this poor guy out. I rode past him. After around 20 m, I stopped my bike, only to see delight on his face. He came running towards the bike and climbed up with a "Thank you". He wanted to go to a place which was not where I was going. A small detour I thought. He said, his sister is waiting for him somewhere on the way. As it was a very short distance, autos would strictly say no; as if it is below their dignity to come. So he would have carried the heavy thing all the way.

During the small ride, he asked me my name. He said, "We will pray for you". Sounded like a typical Christian. May be he would not even remember me after the ride; or may be he will. My guilt feeling had taken a turn for good during this whole incident. Finally I dropped him where he wanted to go. As soon as he got down, he said again "We will pray for you" and "God bless you!!"

One glance at him would tell you that, he was not that rich a guy. He was an ordinary middle class guy. Act of Random Kindness can heal many things. All it takes is a kind heart to make someone's day pleasant and also change your mood. "Not bad at all man" I said to myself.